Baby, What A Big Surprise
by GoingVintage
Summary: Sequel to "All Roads Lead to You." Four years later...big changes are coming for Noah and Rachel Puckerman. Life is about to get much more interesting for our favorite Jewish hotties. 7/4/10 - now complete.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** In honor of the return of Glee tonight, here is the first chapter to the sequel to All Roads Lead to You. I got a lot of requests for a sequel and will be including some of the things you wanted to see in this sequel. This won't be an insanely long multi-chapter fic (ARLTY) but will still take a bit to resolve.

Also, keep an eye out for some new fics of mine that will ONLY be posted over on my LiveJournal blog because of their NC-17 content. (GoingVintage. livejournal. com.) They will feature some heavy Smuckleberry (Smutty Puckleberry.)

Anyway, THANK GOD GLEE IS BACK!!!!!!

* * *

Noah Puckerman stood in aisle 7 at a Walgreens on the edge of downtown Seattle, his face screwed up into a bewildered stare, at the brightly-colored boxes in front of him. _What the hell?_ Glancing from the brand-names to the generics and then back to the brand-names again, he sighed and ruffled his hair with the palm of his hand. He really, _really_ wished Rachel had done this part of it herself_. _But she'd called him as he was leaving work and had sweetly and casually asked, "Baby, I need you to stop by Walgreens and...pick up a pregnancy test…or two or three...before you come home." Puck's breath had caught in his throat and he'd stumbled, nearly careening into the busy Seattle street, at his wife's words.

"Pre—pregnancy test?" he's sputtered into his iPhone. Regaining his footing, he'd stalked back toward the building, turning to lean against the bricks to ensure he didn't crash to the ground. _Rachel? Pregnant? _

Rachel had giggled into the phone and he'd recognized the sound as her nervous laugh. "Yes, Noah. I—I didn't want to tell you until I was really late but…I'm really, _really_ late now. At first, I thought it was just my cycle being stupid but I don't think—" Her words trailed off and he knew, from four years as her husband and what seemed like a lifetime of loving her more than anything else in the world, that she was biting her lip on the other end of the phone.

Gulping, Puck looked toward the sunlight. _Rachel might be pregnant. _Nodding, he realized she couldn't see the bob of his head. "O—okay, babe. Any particular brand?"

"Nope, just something I can pee on."

Puck had signed off with a quick, "love you," and hung up the phone. Numbly, he'd walked toward his truck on the third floor of the parking garage. _Rachel might be pregnant. We might be parents. Holy fuck…_

Dropping his muscular body into the cool seat of his truck, he'd stared blankly ahead for what felt like an eternity as a million random phrases and words seemed to bounce through his brain. _Pregnant. Baby. Money. Diapers. Throw-up. Sex. Big breasts. Dad. _Slowly, a smile crept across his handsome face and took hold. _Holy shit! I might be a dad! _

That goofy, almost-drunk-looking smile had stayed on his face right up until that moment in the Walgreens aisle. It faded, though, as he looked at the EPT, First Response, ClearBlue Easy, and the generics boxes of pregnancy tests centered on the shelves above the condoms. Some required peeing in a cup and dipping (which just sounded fucking gross and he knew, undoubtedly, that if he brought one of those home Rachel would send him back out for the non-disgusting kind), others had digital read-outs, and others still just had one line or two to indicate the results. _What the fuck? Seriously? _

Puck felt the presence of the old woman in the blue smock before he saw her. "Sir," she asked gently. "Can I help you?"

Puck grinned nervously at the woman. "No, I'm fine…just…confused." She patted him on the shoulder and grabbed a box promising early results. "This one's reliable." For a moment, Puck considered asking the woman if she knew what the fuck she was talking about considering they probably didn't even _have_ home pregnancy tests when she'd been pregnant, like, sixty years before. But instead of being his normal asshat self, he bit is tongue, flashed a lop-sided grin at the woman, and grabbed three more boxes of various brands. _Fuck it. Let Rachel decide which one to piss on. _

He paid quickly (and ignored the cashier who'd smiled up at him like he'd just won the fucking lottery) and drove to the apartment they shared as fast as he could in the maddening Seattle traffic that had become the bane of his existence since moving to Seattle five years before. Rachel was off from her show that day because it was early in the week and she'd slept in this morning, which he'd found odd. She was religious about getting up early, exercising, and eating a healthful breakfast. But this morning, she'd swatted his hand away when he'd try to wake her up so he'd left her to sleep while he got ready for work. When he'd bent over her to kiss her goodbye, she barely opened her eyes to return his kiss before she'd emitted a loud snore. Chuckling, he'd left and headed off to work at the physical therapy center. In the five years he'd been in Seattle, he'd worked his way up and was now the senior therapist, supervising all the assistant therapists that worked at the large facility. Rachel was still acting in the local musical theater but had started giving singing lessons as part of the theater's mentorship program two years ago. She was very well-known in the Seattle area – something of a local star who even occasionally got recognized when they were out. After they'd married, they'd briefly – very, _very_ briefly - discussed moving back to Ohio. In reality, the only reason they were even _in_ Seattle was because Rachel had moved there in a vain attempt to cut Noah from her life right before he'd been scheduled to marry another woman. But once he'd come to his senses and realized that Rachel was what mattered, he'd found out where she was and headed out to Seattle. Moving there, he'd won her over, reclaiming his best friend and turning her into his wife. They'd married on the ferry in Elliott Bay, honeymooned in Cozumel, and settled back into life in Seattle. And since then, Seattle had definitely become home.

Puck parked his truck on the street outside their building and bustled through the main door. He skidded to a stop at the edge of the hall, though, to pause and listen. In the apartment next to theirs lived the elderly Mrs. Bernbaum. Puck didn't know if she was 80 or 120; he _did_ know that she was sweet, helpful, and so goddamn annoying that Rachel had to stop him on numerous occasions from strangling the old woman and hiding her body in their storage closet behind the suitcases. While he normally didn't mind when she jerked open the door as he arrived home and talked his ear off for 20 minutes about her new teeth or what was happening on her favorite "stories", he was on a mission that night. He needed to find out if he'd knocked up his girl.

Silently, he skulked past her door like a stealthy ninja, keys in hand. Reaching his door, he unlocked it and deftly slipped inside, closing it quietly behind him. Tossing his keys on the sideboard, he clutched the Walgreens bag and walked deeper into the apartment.

"Babe?" He called. As he neared the bedroom, he heard the sound of the television on low. Pushing open the door, his eyes adjusted to the dim room and settled on the form of his small wife, curled up and asleep.

Grinning at the serene look on her face, Puck grabbed the remote and flicked the television off before dropping the bag from his hand and kicking off his shoes. Climbing gently across the bed until he reached her form, he brushed his lips over hers and whispered, "Babe, I'm home."

Rachel's lids opened slowly at the deep timbre of his voice and a smile slowly crept across her sleepy face. Pushing herself up slightly, she pressed her lips against her husband's before lying back against the pillows again. "Hey, honey. I'm sorry I fell asleep. I'm just very tired today."

Puck settled onto his back on the bed, grabbing Rachel and pulling her against him. She sighed and rested her head on his chest.

"How was your day?" she asked softly, her eyes still closed.

"Fine. Buncha old hurt people…learnin' how to do shit again. Just another day on the job."

Rachel gently slapped his chest before settling her hand on his chest to finger the buttons on his polo shirt. "Your nonchalant attitude about your job is infuriating, Noah. You do important work."

Puck brushed his lips over her forehead, pushing the brown locks away from her face. "I know, babe. Doesn't mean it doesn't drive me fucking crazy most of the time."

They laid silently for a few minutes until the quiet of the room was punctured by the rumbling of Puck's hungry stomach. Rachel smiled into his abdomen and pushed herself up.

"I'll go make something for dinner. I'm sure you're starving by now."

Puck grabbed her arm, stopping her from advancing into the kitchen. "We'll order Chinese. Or I'll go pick up Applebee's."

Nodding, Rachel stretched her arms above her head and yawned. Puck swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up next to her. His arms went around her, pulling her back tightly against his chest. Dropping his head so that his mouth was level with her ear, he asked, "Isn't there something that you need to be pissing on right about now?"

Rachel grinned and squeezed his arm. "You got them?"

"You call me and tell me that you _might _be pregnant and you think I won't get them? I got four different kinds, babe, just to make sure we get the same answer."

Puck reached down, handing Rachel the bag he'd dropped on the floor on his way in the bedroom. She looked inside it and then closed it again, a nervous smile playing across her lips.

"When should I do it? Now or later?"

Puck dropped a hand to his hip. "Are you fucking serious? Now!" Swatting Rachel on the behind, he pushed her toward the bathroom door. "Do your thing and let me know!"

Rachel stepped into the buttercup yellow bathroom and Puck grabbed her arm, tugging her back out to drop a kiss on her lips. "Moment of truth," he whispered against her lips. "Somebody's life's about to change."

Rolling her eyes, Rachel pulled away and spoke with loving exasperation in her voice. "Noah Puckerman, I don't want you to _ever_ tell me that you don't like _Titanic_ again because you totally just quoted it. And next time you tell me that there's dust in your eyes during the part where Jack's body sinks, I _won't_ believe you."

Grinning, he pushed her back into the bathroom and pulled the door closed. "Go pee, babe. We can talk about that douchy old movie later."

Inside the bathroom, Rachel rooted through the bag and pulled out the tests. Eying the boxes, she finally settled on the one with the easiest to read answer (because Noah would, of course, probably be confused if she handed him a test full of lines. She could practically hear him saying, "What the fuck?" as he stared at it.)

Quickly, Rachel took the test and then washed her hands and waited, her eyes averted from the little plastic stick that sat on the edge of the counter. She toyed with the edge of the periwinkle blue towel hanging on the rack and then rearranged her pony tail holders in their basket. Finally, she looked down and gasped. She had her answer – _their_ answer, actually.

Picking it up, she stared at it as a range of emotions washed over her. _How will Noah react? Will he be happy or disappointed? Oh, God... _Rachel smiled as she stared at the readout and then bit her lip and bounced up and down from her spot in the bathroom.

"Babe," Puck called from outside the door. "What's the deal? I'm waiting!"

Jerking the door open quickly, she shoved the test in his hands. He looked down and read it, staring at it for longer than it would take to read the answer. A strange expression passed over his face and Rachel couldn't tell what it meant.

"Noah?" She asked timidly. "Are you okay?"

Puck lifted his head and smiled at Rachel. "Of course I'm okay. This is..._amazing_." He seemed awestruck, staring off into space with a goofy grin transforming his handsome features.

Rachel burst out laughing as Puck bent to capture her lips in a kiss. Wrapping his arms around her, he whispered, "I'm going to be a daddy...again." His eyes went soft for a moment and Rachel knew he was thinking about the daughter he'd never had the chance to raise. Bouncing up on her toes, she brushed her lips over the tip of his nose and said, "But this time, you'll be right here for the entire thing...."

Puck grunted and pulled her tightly to him. "I love you, Rachel. I'm so happy."

Tears sprang into her eyes. "I love you, too, Noah.... And I'm ecstatic!"

They stayed in a quiet embrace for a moment as both of them thought about their lives were about to be transformed. Would they need to move? Could they even afford a baby? Would she be a crazy pregnant woman? Finally, Rachel's stomach grumbled loudly and Noah loosened his grip on her. Puck looked down at his short, petite wife and Rachel watched the glint appear in his eye.

"What?" She cocked her head quizzically as she waited for an answer.

Puck laughed, dropping a kiss to her forehead. "Baby...you're a MILF now."

Rachel glowered at him and then groaned. "You always bring things back to the most basic, neanderthal-esque level, don't you?"

Puck gave her a toothy grin and said, "Go call my mom. Tell her that she's finally going to get that little green-eyed, Jewish grandbaby. I'm going to get us some fucking food before I die."

Rachel watched Puck leave, smiling at the broad expanse of his muscular back as he disappeared through the door. Picking up her cell phone, she sucked in a breath and prepared herself for the insanity that awaited her on the other end of the line. But for once - for _this -_ Rachel knew she could handle her mother-in-law. And for what was probably the first time in the four years they'd been related, she might actually listen to the advice that Maggie doled out so freely.

Rachel heard the phone ring once before Maggie answered from her tiny house in Lima, Ohio. Grinning like a fool, she began to speak....


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** So I meant to thank everyone for the reviews but didn't get around to it because...well....I suck. Anyway, THANK YOU!! I almost feel weird writing happy stuff. Feel like I need to inject some sort of sadness into it or something...LOL. But I won't! This is all about the next phase of their lives and it's a happy phase! Anyway, onto the next chapter.

* * *

By the time Puck walked back in the door from his trip out for food just minutes after they'd discovered that they were going to be parents, Rachel was off the phone with his mother and had the table set. Once the food was out on the table, Rachel practically inhaled her grilled chicken sandwich and then dove into her baked potato with gusto. Puck sat across from her at the dining room table, clearly amused, as he watched her gorgeous face contort in food-ecstasy as she licked a mixture of sour cream and butter from her slender fingers.

Looking up at him, she met his eyes over her cup and smiled. "This is delicious, Noah. Thank you for getting it."

Puck took a bite of his Buffalo chicken sandwich and slouched in his chair, a look of enjoyment on his face. "Babe, I've never seen you wolf down your Applebee's that fast. In fact, I've never seen you finish _anything_ from there, period. Normally, halfway through you're food, you're pushing it away, bitching and reminding me how much you hate the shit and that you're only eatin' it because you love my sorry ass."

Rachel stopped chewing long enough to glare at him playfully. "I'm hungry. And pregnant. And I just talked to your mother for _thirty-three-and-a-half_ minutes without screaming! After that, even Crapplebee's is good!"

Puck shrugged. "That's why I had you call her, babe. The woman practically tracks when we have sex on her own calendar at home. I'm not sure she doesn't have some kinda sex cam set up in our apartment. She _needs _this baby…"

Rachel smiled and took the last bite of her baked potato before pushing back her plate. "I need to call Dad, too. And Tina. Is there anyone else we need to tell right now?"

"Baby, we've known that you're pregnant for like…"Puck glanced at his watch, "…an hour and a half. Call your dad tonight and then let's head to bed. You can tell Tina tomorrow."

Rachel sighed, standing up and walking over to Puck's chair. He pushed it out so she could drop into his lap. Her arms went around his neck as his fingers locked around her waist. Puck pecked her on the nose and she sighed contentedly, leaning her forehead against his. "Can we do this?" she asked softly.

"This parenting thing?"

She nodded.

"Baby, we_ got_ this. Think about it…we've been married for four years now. I'm making a pretty good salary, you're doing awesome work with acting and mentoring and we've been saving tons of money. _And_, well…I'm ready to be a dad. And you'll probably drive the kid crazy and I'll have to intervene every five fucking seconds so that it doesn't try to pack it's little diaper bag and move the fuck out when it's like, six months old, but other than that, I'm sure you'll be a great mom.... Shit, Rach, I'm excited!"

Puck watched the glare cross Rachel's face before she replaced it with a happy smile and her brown eyes grew large. "I won't drive our child crazy, Noah! I will be a _fabulous_ mother. I just can't believe that we're having a baby, Noah. _Us!_ You and me… It's…surreal."

Puck slid his hands into Rachel's silken tresses and pulled her to him, capturing her lips in a heated kiss. It was fuckin' hard to tell her how he felt but he knew he could always _show_ her. They both spoke that particular language well. When they broke apart, Puck grinned at her and then pushed her off him. Standing up, he patted her on the behind. "C'mon, wifey, call your dad and let's get to bed." He raised his eyebrows suggestively and Rachel giggled. _Of course he would want sex to celebrate. Sex is his answer for everything! _

***

An hour and a half later, Rachel lay with her head on Puck's chest, relaxing as his middle finger traced patterns over her bare back.

"That was great," she whispered into his chest.

Puck softly chuckled and dropped a kiss on top her head. He loved these quiet moments with her. The afterglow of hot sex coupled with the fact that it was just the two of them (_or is it the three of us now?_) while the rest of the world was locked safely away outside their door and down that hall meant that life was awesome. Seattle could fucking explode and he didn't think he'd care as long as she was there, with him, just like they were.

"Rach?" he whispered into the darkened room.

"Yeah?" Her finger slipped up to swirl around his nipple and she heard him suck in a quick breath.

"You still haven't told me about the conversation with my mom. As soon as I got home, you ripped the food out of my hands like it was a fuckin' Tony. What'd she say?"

Rachel groaned in response and flipped over onto her back next to him. Puck's arm snaked behind her shoulder to pull her against him and his hand slid into her hair. She stared up at the black ceiling and smiled into the night. "Well, she screamed so loudly that I thought the Lima PD would show up. Once I finally got her calmed down, she went on a 10 minute ramble about how it was about time, blah blah blah… then she wanted to know the due date and then she freaked out that I hadn't gone to the doctor yet and insisted that I go as soon as possible. And then she just sat on the phone saying, 'Oh my Noah, oh my Rachel…a baby,' before just crying into the phone for about 15 minutes."

Puck's chest shook with silent laughter. "I'm so fuckin' glad you made that call. I'll call her tomorrow but, _shit _babe, that was one call I didn't want to make."

Rachel rolled and dropped a kiss against his defined jaw. "It's perfectly fine. She said she's calling you first thing in the morning."

Puck uttered a quiet "dammit" and Rachel laughed. Rolling toward her, he captured her lips, licking along her lower lip and then sucking it between his teeth until she moaned into his mouth. Grinning against her lips, he whispered, "goodnight" and rolled over. Morning would come early and if his mother was calling, he needed as much sleep as possible.

* * *

Several days later, Rachel was stepping into the gray mist that blocked out the afternoon sun. Her doctor's office was in the same medical plaza, just down the street, from Noah's physical therapy facility so Rachel decided to pop in, hoping she could catch him between appointments.

Walking through the crowded lobby and up to the receptionist desk, Joyce smiled at her from behind the curved desk. "Hello, Rachel. How are you today?"

Rachel smiled, dropping her purse on the edge of the reception desk. "I'm great, Joyce. Is Noah busy? I'd like to see him for a moment."

Joyce looked down at the appointment calendar and then shook her head. "Nope, he's actually doing evaluations today and isn't seeing patients. I'll let him know you're here."

Rachel glanced around the lobby while Joyce put in the call. She was silent for a moment and then said, "Noah, your wife is here to see you."

Smiling, she hung up the phone. "He'll be right out, Rachel." The phone rang again and Joyce jumped into receptionist mode, leaving Rachel to her thoughts. A few minutes later, the door popped open and Puck stepped out. Rachel took a second to appreciate his tall form (she'd been in love with him for years but _never _got tired of looking at him and he seemed to get even more handsome with each year that passed.) He was in charcoal-colored slacks and a navy blue polo shirt with the facility's logo on the breast. He flashed her a brilliant smile as he walked toward her, pulling her into his arms and locking his lips to hers. Rachel eased into his kiss, even as her face went red because there were patients in the lobby watching the display. Pulling away, Puck grinned unabashedly at Joyce, whose mouth was hanging open slightly.

Puck took Rachel by the hand and led her back through the door and down the hall to his office. He ushered her inside and then closed the door behind them, grabbing her and pressing her against the door in a yet another kiss. When he pulled away minutes later, Rachel was flushed and trembling slightly.

"Goodness, Noah…what's that for?"

Puck grinned, sitting down in his chair and pulling Rachel into his lap. "Can't I be surprised to see my sexy-as-fuck wife in the middle of the day? What's up, babe?"

Rachel smiled and said, "I went to the doctor this morning. We're 4 weeks along now….Guess when we're due?"

Puck watched the happiness sparkle in his wife's eyes and he grinned as he answered. "When?"

She kissed his cheek. "December 23rd!"

Puck arched his brow? "Oh yeah? A Christmas baby would be great..._if_ we celebrated it."

Laughing, Rachel rolled her eyes. "It will be a holiday baby, Noah. And _that_ is perfect_. _That time of year is just so...magical!"

"That's a long ways away, babe," Puck thought, staring at the calendar that hung on the wall above his desk.

Rachel nuzzled his neck with her nose and sighed. "Yes, it is. But the next 36 weeks are going to be so exciting and educational."

Puck stared at his wife. "Educational? Babe, seriously, only you would find projectile vomiting, crazy cravings, and bitchy moods educational."

"I haven't thrown up once! I'm going to maintain a healthful diet with rigorous exercise and I _promise _you, my moods will be unaffected. I think this is going to be a relatively easy pregnancy!"

Puck looked skeptical at her statement. Bending to kiss her again (because shutting her up with his lips was a helluva lot easier than trying to prove her wrong), they were interrupted by a knock on the door. Puck scooted Rachel off his lap and called, "Come in!"

A young, timid girl dressed in the uniform of the facility stepped inside. "You...uh...wanted to see me, Mr. Puckerman?"

Puck smiled, sticking his hand out to usher the girl into a seat. "Gimme a minute, Mary. I'm gonna walk my wife out and then I'll be right with you."

Puck and Rachel stepped into the hallway and he closed his office door. Rachel looked at him, her eyes questioning. Puck draped his arm over Rachel's shoulder and guided her toward the exit. "That's our new girl, Mary. She's fresh outta college and she's been here 90 days. She's getting her eval today and she's a nervous wreck but she needs to relax. She's awesome. I'll probably still fuck with her for a minute, though. I love scaring these new kids. That shit never gets old."

Once they were back at the door to the lobby, Puck bent to kiss Rachel one last time. Before she left, she said, "Noah, I was thinking about seeing if Tina and Nick wanted to come over for dinner tonight. What do you think?"

Puck grinned. "Playing basketball with Nick after work. Call Tina and then Nick and I will just come straight over from the gym."

With a smile and a final peck on the lips, Rachel shouldered her purse and stepped back out into the Seattle mist. Her mind was full of questions regarding the baby but for today, she was going to enjoy the fact that she knew the tentative arrival date of their future little star.

***

When Puck and Nick arrived at the apartment hours later, they'd expected to at least be greeted with the smell of food. Usually, when Rachel and her old high school friend Tina Cohen-Chang got together, they cooked elaborate meals with so much food that they fed both Noah and Nick, Tina's fiancé, for days. Instead of food, though, they were stopped short at the sight before them. Puck looked at Nick with a screwed up look of confusion on his face and Nick just shrugged in return. Rachel and Tina sat on the wooden floor in the middle of the living room, piles of clothes around them, laughing hysterically. Tina had tears on her cheeks and her makeup was streaked down her face. Rachel's face was bright red and tear-stained.

"What the hell?" Puck finally asked after a few minutes of bewildered stares as Rachel and Tina giggled, leaning against each other for support.

Still laughing, Rachel and Tina picked themselves up off the floor and went to give their guys kisses. Puck wrapped his arm around Rachel's waist and nodded toward the clothes all over the floor. "What's this, babe?"

Rachel wiped the tears from her cheeks, straining to keep the laughter from starting again. "When I got home this afternoon, this box was waiting for me. It's from your mother."

Puck blanched at the word "mother" because he knew that whatever was in that box could not possibly be any good. "Wha—what'd she send?"

Rachel stepped from Puck's embrace and picked up a cute little pink dress. "This was your sister's."

Puck stared. "What's funny about that?"

Tina burst out laughing and went back to join Rachel. "That's not the funny stuff, Puck. She sent a lot of really cute baby clothes that belonged to both you and Sarah. The funny stuff? That's this." Tina pointed to a pile of brightly patterned and floral printed fabric. Rachel bent down and picked up the dress, holding it up for Puck to see. Puck's eyes went wide.

"Holy shit...I remember that dress! My mom wore that thing when she was pregnant with Sarah all the damn time! Why the hell did she send it to you?"

Rachel snorted. "She wanted me to have her maternity clothes. And all the old baby clothes that were up in the attic. Apparently, maternity clothes in Lima are lacking because this is nothing but a pile of big, ugly dresses like my dad's Aunt Rosie used to wear, and she weighed nearly 500 pounds."

Tina glanced down at one of the dresses, which was bright green and stamped with purple triangles in various sizes all over it, and then started to giggle all over again. "Oh Rach," she breathed, "I can't wait to see you in some of these!"

Puck jerked the dress out of Rachel's hands and threw it back in the pile. "Burn that shit. We'll go clothes shopping. _My_ pregnant wife is gonna look hot as shit right up until the day she pops."

Nick, who had been quiet for the entire escapade, finally spoke up. "Can we eat, please? I'm dyin' over here. We've got months to make fun of Rachel's ugly clothes but I'm hungry _now. _I kicked Puck's ass playing ball tonight and that shit takes it outta me."

Tina jumped into action, dragging Nick into the kitchen with her so that they could begin getting the food ready. Puck shot daggers at the back of Nick's head because he had _clearly_ won both games but…_whatever. _

Turning his attention back to the box of _evil_ that had arrived from Lima, Puck glanced down at the pile of clothes again. Rolling his eyes, he kicked the ugly green dress into the corner. _My mother…_

* * *

The very next morning, Rachel's luck ran out in the morning sickness department. As she stooped over the toilet bowl emptying the contents of her stomach, Puck stood behind her, holding her long hair back to keep it out of the way. Even while he appeared to be ever the concerned his husband, he was holding back the urge to tell her, "told ya so!"

When she was done, she stood up, brushed her teeth, and washed her face. Puck leaned against the back wall of the bathroom, his arms folded, wordlessly watching her with a smirk on his face. She met his eyes in the mirror. "What?"

"So, babe, was that as educational as you thought it'd be?"

Turning, Rachel glared at him before popping up on her toes and brushing her lips over his. "Keep being a smug jerk and I'll kiss you _before_ brushing my teeth next time." Rachel sauntered out of the bathroom after speaking, flipping off the light and leaving Puck in the dark.

Chuckling, he stepped out into the hallway. _The next 36 weeks are gonna be a blast...._


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: So yeah, my updates are slower on this story. I'm also working on another story for the runner-up of the Support Stacie Author Auction, plus the novel I'm writing. It all keeps me busy. I'm aiming for once or twice a week updates on this story. And right now, I think it will probably be around 12 chapter long. **

**Thanks for the reviews and alerts. I've been craptastic about replying to them and I'll try to be better!**

**And oh yeah, since Puck has barely spoken more than five lines in the first two episodes of the back 9, it's pretty damn obvious that _I_ don't own Glee.**

* * *

"Noah! We have to move!" Rachel voice was loud, echoing through their darkened bedroom as she shouted the announcement into the night. Puck shot up from the bed, violently roused from sleep by her outburst, and blearily looked around in the dark.

"Wh—what, Rach?" Puck rubbed his eyes, his vision settling on the form of his wife sitting upright in bed, her concerned face illuminated by the moonlight.

"We need to move!" she reiterated, placing a hand on his arm and gripping it tightly.

"Now?" Puck stared at her, obviously confused. "It's 2am, babe. On a Tuesday," he added, for no real reason other than to emphasize that she needed to be asleep.

"No, not _now_! But soon! Very, very soon, in fact. We can't bring a baby into the world while living in this apartment! It's too small! There isn't enough light! There aren't enough windows to let in fresh air. There are too many weird sounds and smells coming from other apartments. It's simply an inappropriate environment in which to bring this baby into the world!"

Puck groaned, flopping back onto his pillows. Throwing his forearm over his forehead, he closed his eyes and sighed. "Rach, seriously. It's the middle of the night. I agree that we need to move but we _can't_ fucking go house hunting _now. _Go back to sleep, baby, please?"

Rachel sighed, settling back under the covers. She crawled toward Puck and put her head on his chest. "I'm sorry for waking you up...I've just got a thousand things on my mind. Ever since we found out that I was pregnant, I seem to think about the baby constantly." Her hand dropped and slid across her still-flat stomach.

Puck's hand slid down and covered hers. Gently kissing her forehead, he whispered, "It's going to be okay, babe. I think about it constantly, too. But you're only seven weeks pregnant. We have 33 weeks to find a new place to live."

Rachel nodded against his chest.

"How 'bout we start this weekend?" he suggested, yawning.

Rachel smiled in the dark. "Oh, Noah, that would be wonderful! I would like to get moved as soon as possible. We need to be completely settled in our new home long before the baby is born."

Puck pulled Rachel tighter against him. "Sleep, baby. You'll have to get up in a few hours to puke, anyway. Get some sleep before then."

Swatting his chest, Rachel laughed at the truth he'd just spoken. Morning sickness was making her temporarily miserable. Once she threw up in the morning, she could make it through the rest of the day, _usually_, without too many other problems. However, every trip past Mrs. Bernbaum's door seemed to be a challenge. Rachel had never noticed the distinct smells coming from her apartment prior to getting pregnant but now, the smell of whatever it was that she constantly seemed to be cooking made Rachel violently ill. It smelled like a combination of cabbage and…feet. She'd taken to sucking in her breath and holding it as she ran to the apartment and unlocked the door. If Mrs. Bernbaum stopped her to talk, it took everything in Rachel's poised form not to puke on her shoes. _Yes, we definitely need to move. _

Puck rolled toward Rachel, kissed her deeply, and was snoring again a few minutes later. Rachel finally sagged against his body, giving in to sleep. He was right...she _would_ be up to puke in just a few hours.

* * *

At work the following morning, Puck was finishing up with a patient and walking back toward his office when his boss, Dr. Feldman, stopped him in the hall.

"Noah, I managed to get your schedule cleared for you tomorrow so I've approved the day off request."

Puck stared at him. _What? I didn't turn in a request. _Finally, Puck questioned, "Sir?"

Dr. Feldman chuckled, throwing a comforting hand on Puck's shoulder. "I got a voicemail from your wife this morning. She said that you needed tomorrow off to go with her to the bank to get pre-approved for a mortgage. And then she said something about how you were facing huge life-changes and she hoped that I'd grant the request because she'd hate to get the ACLU involved."

Puck blanched. _I'm going to fucking kill her. _"I—I'm sor—" Puck stuttered, his face turning red as Rachel's words to his boss echoed through his head. He could just see himself getting fired over Rachel's hormonal threat.

Throwing his head back and laughing, Dr. Feldman guided Puck into his office and motioned for him to sit down. Puck took a seat in a comfortable leather chair, crossing his legs and tapping his foo nervously against his knee.

"So, Noah, what's going on?"

Puck lifted his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. "My wife kinda freaked out at 2am this morning and decided that we needed to move. And when Rachel decides something, I've learned that it's best to just stay out of her way and shut my mouth. I'm sorry about the message she left, Dr. Feldman, really. She's…just a little…crazy right now."

Dr. Feldman grinned knowingly. "So when's she due?"

Puck's eyes widened and then he laughed. "You're used to pregnant women, I take it? She's due December 23rd."

"I have a wife and four daughters, Noah. Each of those daughters now has children. I've been through enough pregnancies to know the signs."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Feldman," Puck began. "I'll remind Rachel that she doesn't need to call my boss and threaten him in the future. That is, _if _ I still have a job!"

Dr. Feldman put up a hand to stop him. "Noah, I've met Rachel numerous times. She's a lovely woman. She's also pregnant and you're about to be a first-time father. If you need anything, you just ask. You've worked very hard and have given it your all these past five years, which is now why you're second in command. You need _anything_, you'll let me know?"

Puck smiled, the weight of the stress easing. "Thanks, Doc. I guess I'm taking tomorrow off to go to the bank…"

Dr. Feldman was still laughing when Puck left his office. Shaking his head, he took his glasses off and laid them on his desk. _That young man is in for quite the ride. _

***

When Puck got home from work a few hours later, it became blatantly obvious that Rachel knew she'd taken a poor approach to getting his day off approved. He'd just walked into the apartment and dropped his keys on the table when Rachel greeted him in nothing but a pair of purple lace boyshorts. As Puck wrapped his arms around her and backed her into their bedroom, her face reddened and her eyes welled with tears.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get you fired did I? It just came out…I'm afraid that I get rather passionate when thinking about the baby and all that needs done between now and then. I'm really sorry, Noah." Her big brown eyes peered up at him, full of questions and remorse. Kissing her on her forehead, he gently pushed her back onto the bed, pulling his polo shirt over his head and tossing it into the hamper by the bed. Shucking his pants and boxers to the floor, he climbed onto the bed and settled himself between Rachel's thighs.

"You played the ACLU card, Rachel! I haven't heard you try that shit since high school. I got in _so _much trouble, babe, thanks to your big mouth." Puck put a pathetic, sad look on his face for added effect. "There was yelling. And a few threats. I thought he'd punch me. It was _awful_…" Dropping his head and licking a hot stripe down Rachel's neck toward her breasts, he added, "You're going to have to make it up to me…"

* * *

The next afternoon, the Puckermans met with the mortgage department at their bank. An hour and a half after they'd arrived, the paperwork was complete and they had a pre-approval for a mortgage that was six times more than what they could afford. As they stepped back out into the sunny Seattle day, Rachel was nearly giddy with excitement.

"First, Noah, we have to decide what neighborhood we're going to want to live in. And then we have to settle on a reasonable price range. And then we need to narrow down what features we want in a home so that we only look at those homes. And we need to determine if we want all brick, partial brick, etc. And do we need walk-in showers?" Rachel pushed her hair back from her face and looked up at her husband in time to catch him rolling his eyes.

"Noah! Are you paying attention?"

Puck shoved his hands in his pockets and scowled. "Neighborhood. Bricks. Showers. Got it, babe."

"Well?" She asked smartly. "Do you have any preferences?"

Dropping an arm across her shoulders, he guided her toward his truck and opened the door. She slid in and buckled her belt as he walked around and hopped in. As they pulled out into the traffic, Puck finally answered her. "I've got one request, baby: as far away from Mrs. Fucking Bernbaum as possible. I've served my sentence around that old bat. We gotta move…"

Rachel glowered. "I like that woman, even if she does smell weird. She was…" Rachel thought back to her hasty arrival in Seattle five years before, "She was my first friend here. Despite the putrid, bile-inducing smells that come from her apartment, I'll miss her."

Puck grinned, flipping the turn signal to pull into the grocery store parking lot. "Will you miss when she pounds on the door right when I'm in the middle of givin' it to you good? I sure as _fuck_ won't miss that. That woman is a Class A cockblocker! Will you miss when she shows up and hands us cans of…_whatever_…that she's spent hours making and that looks like it would kill us if we attempted to eat it? Fuck, baby, getting away from that old bat is the #1 reason I'm all about moving."

Puck killed the truck engine in the grocery store lot and Rachel turned to him, a questioning look on her face. "Why are we here?"

Puck snickered. "Stay here. I'll be right back."

Rachel watched him slam the truck door and jog inside the building. Thirty seconds later, he was back outside with a stack of magazines in his hands. Hopping back inside the truck, he flung the stack Rachel's way. Her eyes glanced downward and then lit up. Reaching across the seat, she kissed him. "Home magazines! Oh Noah, I love you! You were reading my mind!"

Starting up the truck again, Puck gave himself a mental high-five. Rachel was tapping her foot to the soft strains of music coming through the speakers as she flipped through the magazines, folding down pages that had houses in them she liked. By the time they'd made it home twenty minutes later, there were over thirty houses already marked for consideration. As they walked into the apartment, Rachel chattered about the houses and requirements for _her _future home. Puck said nothing, knowing it was safer to just nod and agree. Grabbing a beer out of the fridge, Puck sat down at the dining room table with Rachel and they began talking about their future home. As annoyed as he was, this was actually an important decision so he figured that for once, he'd better actually listen to what she had to say.

* * *

Saturday, Rachel had her understudy take over her role so that she and Puck could spend the day looking at houses. Rachel was _serious_ about moving – and as soon as possible. Thanks to the multitude of conversations they'd had, they decided to focus their home search in the Mountlake Terrace neighborhood (after Rachel spent a day and a half studying school systems, home prices, crime reports, and Puck suspected even soil content reports.)

Early Saturday morning, they pulled up in front of the first house on the list. Puck shifted the truck into Park as Rachel gawped out the window. "Damn," Puck heard her whisper under her breath. He started to push the door open and Rachel grabbed his arm. "Don't bother. This place is a hovel."

Puck snorted as he scooted across the seat to look out the passenger-side window with Rachel.

"Which house?" he asked. Rachel pointed to the small, white-sided house. Puck stared at it, cocking his head to one side. "What's wrong with it, babe?"

Rachel pointed at the house. "Look at the windows. That looks, even from _here, _to be lead-based paint. The yard is tiny, the roof looks weak, and the porch is pathetic." Settling into her seat, Rachel put a big "X" over the house and looked up at Puck. Reaching up, she kissed his jaw and said, "Keep driving."

Groaning, Puck slid back over to the steering wheel and started up the truck. _I'm going to fucking kill her. _

A few minutes later, they were pulling into a subdivision that held much more promise than the last one, even Puck could admit. They stopped in front of the house and Puck looked at Rachel, a grin playing across his lips. "Do I get to even turn off the truck or do I need to get us the hell away from this one, too?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "This house looks adorable, Noah, let's go in!"

A few minutes later, they strolled hand-in-hand into the house and greeted the real estate agent handling the open house. Puck loved the living room. It had huge build-in bookcases and a fire place. It said, "home" to him. He eyed Rachel silently, studying her face, and was relieved to see a serene, happy look that indicated she was also a fan of the house. That look dissolved immediately, though, as they stepped through the arched doorway into the kitchen. Rachel swiveled her head from left to right and then looked back at Puck. "Noah? Is this it? This kitchen is smaller than what we have in the apartment! Forget this!" Grabbing Puck's hand, Rachel dragged him back through the living room, slowing briefly to throw a curt nod toward the agent before stepping back outside. Puck shot a longing look at the bookcases before helping Rachel back into the truck.

_It's going to be a long fucking day. _

***

Turns out, it _was _a long fucking day. Eleven houses and three condos later, Rachel and Puck stumbled into their apartment building, both exhausted and edgy. They quietly made their way down the hall, both cognizant of the fact that it had been _days _since either one of them had seen Mrs. Bernbaum and they were both due for a hallway visit. Rachel groaned when she heard the knob of the apartment door next to theirs turn. Puck shot her a panicked look and Rachel giggled, knowing there was no escape without being rude. Just then, the door popped open and their elderly neighbor stepped out, grinning like a loon. Rachel sucked in breath as the smell of boiled cabbage (and feet) wafted her way.

"Hello Noah! Hello Rachel! I haven't seen you all in days. How are you?"

Puck shrugged, wrapping an arm around his wife, who he noticed had turned slightly green and was staring down at her feet. "We're good, Mrs. Bernbaum. Spent the day house shopping."

The old woman's eyes grew wide beneath her huge glasses. "House shopping? You're moving out? Oh, dear goodness." She put a hand over her heart and looked expectantly at Rachel.

Forcing a smile, Rachel sucked in a breath. "Yes, Mrs. Bernbaum. It's time we move. We're…we're starting a family." Rachel's hand dropped to her stomach and Mrs. Bernbaum's eyes followed it. Then she jerked her head up, gave Puck a leering grin that almost made him shudder in revulsion, and punched him in the arm.

"You're having a baby! Good work, Noah! 'Bout time you got this little thing pregnant. I've been wondering what was taking so long, considering how noisy you both can be when—" she looked around to see if anyone was nearby and then dropped her voice, "—you're doing the _nasty_. It seems that you try quite frequently."

Puck burst out laughing and Rachel's face turned from green to white to red to green again. Mrs. Bernbaum reached out and put a hand on Rachel's arm. "Oh, it's no worry, deary. My Harvey used to curl my toes. I'm telling you, the things that man could do… And we all know how thin these walls are…"

"Oh my god," Rachel muttered under her breath. She looked helplessly up at Puck but he was too busy laughing and wiping tears from his eyes to pay attention to her. Rachel reached around and pinched him on the behind to get his attention. Shooting him a serious look, Puck stepped in.

"Well, Mrs. Bernbaum. We better get Rachel inside. She's hungry and tired." Puck grabbed Rachel's hand and led her to the door. As he unlocked it, Mrs. Bernbaum said, "It's time for my stories, anyway. But congratulations on the baby! Glad your boys can swim, Noah!"

Groaning, Rachel pushed inside the door. Puck was still laughing.

"It's not funny, Noah! She's been listening to us have sex for years! And _oh my god _Noah, think of some of the things we've done. I am _mortified_ at the moment. Absolutely mortified!"

Puck walked up behind Rachel, wrapping his arms around her waist and dropping his head to her shoulder. "C'mon babe…it's not that big of a deal."

"It is, too! How embarrassing! Oh god, do you remember the time we…" Rachel's voice trailed off, her memory flashing to some of the more intense sex sessions she and Noah had shared over the years. With a groan, she buried her head in her hands and Puck dropped a kiss against the back of her neck.

"I bet that old bat had her ear up to the wall every fucking time." Pulling away, Puck stepped into the living room and flipped on the TV. Looking back, Rachel was still fixed in her spot. "Babe? C'mon, it's really okay. But don't you think that's a good fucking reason to settle on a house? And _soon_?"

Rachel nodded, grabbed her house magazines, and jumped into going through them with renewed vigor. They _had _to move now.

* * *

When Rachel was eight weeks pregnant, they looked at six houses and Rachel hated all six, finding new and annoying ways to hate each home. Puck nearly killed her the day she rejected a home strictly on the fact that the bushes out front could harbor creeping pedophiles at night.

***

At nine weeks pregnant, they looked at eight more houses. Puck loved one so much that he didn't want to leave it. But Rachel argued that the spare bedroom closet had "bad karma" and insisted they keep looking.

***

At ten weeks pregnant, Rachel dragged Puck through five more houses. Then, they re-looked at a few of the houses that Rachel hadn't completely hated since they'd started their search.

***

When Rachel was in her eleventh week, they made an offer on a house and it was accepted. A few weeks later, they were closing on their very first home. The house with the "bad karma" closet was now theirs (after they looked at it two more times and Rachel finally admitted that the rest of the house was lovely. She decided they'd store winter clothes in the closet and that would help work out the karma issues.)

***

As Rachel entered her second trimester, they packed up their apartment and prepared to leave behind the first place they'd shared in Seattle. For Rachel, it was bittersweet. The apartment had been her refuge when she'd fled Cincinnati to get away from Noah all those years ago. It had also been where she'd realized that she couldn't live without him and didn't really intend to try anymore. It was where she'd welcomed him back into her life and where they lived together for the first time as a couple. It had become the first home she'd ever lived in as a "Puckerman." That small apartment on Jackson Street in Seattle was their _home_. Love had grown there; a baby had been created there. Life_ - _the _best_ _years_ of her life so far - had been lived in those small rooms. So as they loaded boxes into the moving truck, Rachel wiped away tears (again). Leaving behind anything that she loved was hard, even when what was ahead filled her with anticipation.

Once the final boxes were loaded and Nick and Tina were following the moving truck in Rachel and Puck's vehicles, Puck grabbed her hand from across the cab and squeezed it reassuringly. "It's about to get awesome, babe…just wait. You'll see."

Rachel teared up again at the man she'd loved for nearly all of her adult life. It touched her that, as usual, he knew what she was thinking without her having to say a word.

She smiled and blew him a kiss as a shiver raced down her spine. The future _was_ going to be awesome. "You're right, Noah. You really are."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in this chapter. I've never gone two weeks between updates and I totally suck because of it, I know. However, I wanted to finish the Support Stacie Author Auction story that I had to do and now that it's up, I can focus on this (and if you haven't read "Those Summer Nights," go read it!) And then I was inspired by "Bad Reputation" (because seriously, how awesome _was_ that?) and wrote a one-shot called "Near Kisses" (go read that, too!) But my focus is back on the Seattle Puckermans now! **

* * *

Puck flipped off the bathroom light, sending the bedroom into darkness, and made his way to the bed. Pulling the covers back, he climbed in and then felt for Rachel in the darkness. Pulling her flush against him, he sighed in contentment. It was only their second night in their new home and both Puck and Rachel were still adjusting to life outside their apartment.

They lay silently for a few minutes and other than the sound of a single passing car and a barking dog in the distance, they felt like they were completely alone from the rest of the world.

"S'quiet here," Puck softly said into the darkness.

"I know," Rachel acknowledged. "Besides my home in Lima, this is the only other house I've ever lived in. I think I've been used to the noise of having other people around all the time."

"Dorms, my apartment by myself, my apartment with Kim, my apartment by myself again, then living with you... Hell, my house growing up in Lima wasn't even this quiet because of Sarah's constant noises and my mother's fucking mouth."

Rachel shuddered, the idea of living in the same house with Maggie a horrifying thought. "I can't get over how completely silent it is here."

Puck chuckled. "No blaring TVs, no disgusting smells coming in under the door, no stomping from upstairs, no Mrs. Bern-fucking-baum."

"Noah!" Rachel admonished. "You know I liked that woman. She was a great neighbor."

"Yeah, babe, uh huh." Puck tugged Rachel tighter to him and laid an open-mouthed kiss on her shoulder. "She was just fine until she confessed to being a perverted creeper with her ear to the wall while I was making you scream my name every fucking night."

In the dark, Rachel groaned. "You mean that she accidentally heard us when we were in the middle of lovemaking? And must you always be crude, Noah?"

Puck ignored her question and instead, tilted her head towards him and kissed her lips. His hands roamed down her body, flipping her nightgown up to slide his hands along her lower back.

"Are you happy we moved?" he asked, his breath hot against her ear.

Rachel curled back into him, moaning slightly as his hands manipulated their way inside her panties.

"I am...so, so happy."

Rachel rolled so that she was on her back and Puck immediately pushed her gown up, sliding one hand up to cup her breast while the other hand made its way between her thighs.

"Guess what, baby?" Puck rasped minutes later as he twisted two fingers inside Rachel's body, causing her to lurch and moan loudly.

"Wh--what?" she panted.

"You can scream my name as fucking loud as you want...no one can hear us now."

Shuddering, Rachel wrapped her arms around him just as he entered her. A little while later, when Rachel's back arched and she cried out his name louder than he'd ever heard her before, he grunted her name at a near-shout as his eyes rolled back into his head. Yes, there were definite perks to living in a house.

* * *

Five days after moving, Puck had decided that the _only _thing he missed about the apartment was the easy commute. Seattle traffic out to their new house was a bitch and it usually left him pissed off and tense as hell by the time he got home. He was grinding his teeth from following a slow-moving asshole through their neighborhood when he walked into the house and kicked off his shoes (because Rachel had instituted a "no shoes on the new carpet" rule that drove him insane.) He felt the tenseness leave his body, though, when he heard singing coming from upstairs.

Grinning at the soft sound of Rachel's voice wafting down the stairs, he bound up the wood steps two at a time and found her standing in the empty bedroom that would become the nursery. Leaning against the door jamb, he crossed his arms and watched her. Her back was to him and she was facing the blank wall, softly singing while she moved her hands like she was miming.

"Babe?"

She turned around and flashed him a smile before crossing the room to slip herself into his arms. He kissed her hotly, his hands sliding down to grip her ass, before pulling away to nuzzle her nose.

"Whatcha doin' in here?"

Rachel turned and motioned toward the room. "Visualizing!"

_Umm. Ok. _"Visualizing _what, _exactly?"

Rachel slid from his arms and moved to stand in the middle of the room. "The furniture, the wall color, where I want the rocking chair and the changing table to sit, if I want a big, pretty rug, et cetera. There's _so _much to prepare for!"

Puck chuckled. "Babe, you're just now 13 weeks pregnant. We've got plenty of time. Besides, we don't even know what we're having yet so we can't plan for anything, really."

"But at my doctor's appointment in a few weeks, they _should _be able to tell what we're having so we need to be prepared!" She was wide-eyed, her eyes darting around the room as she pictured the crib and the curtains that would cover the window.

Puck stepped into the room and wrapped his arm around Rachel's waist. "So you want to find out? Don't wanna be surprised?"

Rachel chewed her lip and thought for a moment. "I do like the element of surprise. But I think I'd rather be prepared. So yes, I do want to find out early." She looked up at Puck. "Do you?"

"Dunno...I think so. I found out with...Quinn...and it was kinda cool knowing that the baby was a girl. I mean...it made it more real and...."

Rachel softly patted his hand, knowing he was again thinking about his baby girl from so many years before. Puck dropped his head and hugged her tight before saying into her ear, "I'm fucking starved. Let's go to dinner."

"That sounds wonderful! I think we should definitely go to Applebee's!"

"Applebee's, baby? You sure?" Puck was clearly skeptical and his brow crinkled in disbelief.

Rachel laughed. "Of course I'm sure. For whatever reason, I strangely crave Applebee's since getting pregnant. I think it only proves that this is definitely _your _spawn that I'm carrying."

Puck rolled his eyes. "That just means you're having a badass boy who wants to eat just like his Pops."

Rachel placed her hand on her stomach and smiled wistfully. "Perhaps…"

"Aight, I'm starved…let's go. We can talk baby on the way." Placing his arm around her wrist, he tugged her down the stairs and out the door. If she wanted Applebee's, he wasn't going to complain. After all, his goal in life was to make his pregnant wife happy (and their new house was only two miles from the local Applebee's and seriously, how awesome was that shit?)

* * *

A few days later, Rachel was at Seattle Musical Theatre, where she'd been a performer for five years, and was preparing for a Saturday matinee show. She had just finished slipping into her costume when her understudy, Michelle, walked into her dressing room.

"Hey, Rachel! Did you see what's coming up next? Auditions are being held for a production of "Grease" in a few weeks! I assume you'll try out for Sandy?"

Rachel didn't answer. A few weeks from now, she'd be nearing the halfway point of her pregnancy, meaning that by the time they performances started, she'd be heavily showing. While it saddened her that she wouldn't be participating, she couldn't dwell on it. After all, she had _much _bigger things to deal with and they were a lot more exciting than performing in "Grease."

Shaking her head, she said, "No, Michelle. I do believe that I'm going to sit this one out, actually."

Michelle gawked at the woman in front of her. Rachel Puckerman sat out for _nothing. _She was the star of the cast; everyone knew it and no one had a problem with it because she was exceptionally talented. _Sitting out? _"Rach? Are you quitting?" Michelle sat down in the chair next to Rachel, placing a concerned hand on her arm.

Rachel was touched by her concern but shook her head. "No, not at all. I'm just...well...I haven't told anyone here yet but I suppose I'll need to now. Noah and I are expecting our first baby."

Michelle squealed, jumping up to hug Rachel. When she pulled away, her cheeks were glowing and she looked into Rachel's eyes. "That's fabulous, Rach! I'm so happy for you! When are you due?"

"Not until December 23rd so we still have quite a while to go but I seriously doubt that "Grease" would be as riveting with a visibly pregnant Sandy on stage. Somehow, I think it would take away the believability factor of Sandy's obvious virginity."

Laughing, Michelle nodded. "You've got a point. I'm sad that you won't be in it but -- and don't take this the wrong way -- I'll probably get the lead for once!"

Rachel hugged Michelle close and said, "I'll put in a good word for you! You deserve it."

Michelle leaned back against the wall and watched Rachel apply lip gloss. "So when are you going to tell the director?"

"No time like the present, I suppose. I would hate for anyone to assume anything regarding my non-participation so perhaps I'll make the announcement now. We wanted to make it through the first trimester before we told anyone but I'm in my 14th week now and the baby appears to be healthy and strong so I am now comfortable with letting people know."

"So is Noah excited?"

Rachel nodded as she swiped a second coat of mascara over her lashes. "He's ecstatic. He's going to be an amazing father. I caught him reading _What to Expect When You're Expecting _the other night. He tried to quickly cover it with the latest issue of _Maxim _but it was too late. He still thinks he has to be tough and manly but as soon as we talk about the baby, he turns into a 5 foot 11 inch pile of mush."

"Awww...that's adorable! And you two are going to have one gorgeous baby," Michelle added.

Rachel turned to her. "Think so?"

Michelle smiled broadly. "Well, you're gorgeous and...have you _seen _your husband? Of course that is going to be one gorgeous child! Your baby is going to put all the other newborns at the hospital to shame."

Laughing, Rachel linked her arm in Michelle's and together, they went to find the director. It was time to spread the news about Baby Puckerman.

* * *

On a Thursday evening, early in Rachel's 15th week of pregnancy, she and Puck, along with Tina, were scheduled to have dinner at Nick's apartment. After Puck hopped out of the shower, he toweled off, cinched a big, blue towel around his waist, and padded out of the master bathroom and into the bedroom. When he stepped into the room, though, he found himself skidding to a stop. Rachel was oblivious to his presence, standing in front of the mirror in a pair of lilac-colored bikini panties and her hands were open and splayed, framing her belly. She felt Puck's presence and turned, her face red with embarrassment.

"I—I think I'm beginning to show, Noah," she said softly as she slid her hands over her stomach.

Puck's eyes slid down from her face, over her breasts, and down to where her hands rested. He could see it, too; the barely-perceptible swell of her normally-flat stomach between her small hands. His chest suddenly felt tight and he inhaled deeply in an attempt to even his breathing out. He was torn between uncontrollable lust and extreme tenderness. He was watching his hot as fuck wife stand there naked...but she was focusing on her belly. On their baby. On _his _baby.

_She's so…fuck…_ Word failed him at that moment.

"Yeah, babe. I can see that," he answered huskily as he moved further into the bedroom to stand behind her. His hands slid down her arms, fingertips soft and barely brushing her before his fingers closed over hers. Rachel met his eyes in the mirror.

"I didn't expect to start showing yet but I read that it can happen at any time. And with my small frame, it's inevitable that I'd show early. There's really no place for the baby to hide." She turned and looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes dark with concern. "Are you still going to love me when I'm big and fat, Noah? Because now that I'm showing, it's only going to get worse. I won't be able to wear the sexy lingerie that you love. And all my dresses are going to look ridiculous on me."

Her big brown eyes, so full of worry, met his hazel ones in the mirror and he almost laughed at the ridiculous level of concern in them. Puck bent and softly kissed her temple, sliding his hands off hers and across the swell of her stomach.

"You're hot, babe. You always have been. And you'll be even more gorgeous the bigger you get. That's _my_ kid in there…I've never seen anything so fucking beautiful in my entire life. And you better get some baby-mama lingerie because you'll be sexy as hell in it, no matter what size you are."

Rachel turned in his arms and looked up at him. Noticing the watery look in his eyes, her heart clenched. _I am so lucky_, was her only thought as she pulled his head down for a kiss. Puck's arms went around her waist and dropped to her ass, squeezing the cheeks tightly as he kissed her. When she pulled away, she whispered, "I love you, Noah."

Puck nuzzled her neck with his nose and responded, "Love you, too, babe. Now get some clothes on or I'm not responsible for what happens next."

Rachel arched her eyebrow upwards and smiled, "That sounds good, Noah. I'll text Tina and tell her we'll be late."

Slipping form his embrace, she grabbed her phone and typed out a quick message to Tina. Puck stared in disbelief. Rachel was never late _anywhere. _And she would never, ever, for any reason under the sun, postpone an arrival _just_ to have sex. But when Rachel turned back toward him and slid her panties down her hips toward the floor, Puck realized that he was no longer dealing with his normal Rachel. Pregnant Rachel was a very different animal - and he was going to enjoy it. Scooping her up, he gently dropped her on the bed and pulled off the towel, sending it toward the plush berber carpet. Diving in after her, she spied the aroused look in his eyes and giggled. _Maybe the fact that I'm starting to show isn't a bad thing after all?_

* * *

An hour and a half after they were scheduled to arrive at Nick's, Puck and Rachel finally got there. When they walked into the apartment, hand-in-hand, Tina took one look at Rachel's flushed face and rolled her eyes. "I take it the pregnancy hormones that make you a horny bitch have kicked in?" Tina questioned with a laugh.

Rachel's mouth gaped and Puck sputtered with laughter. Nick just groaned from the kitchen and went back to stirring the huge pot on his stove.

"I...I..." Rachel stumbled over the words.

Puck put a reassuring hand on Rachel's shoulder, looked Tina in the eye and said, "Yes, Tina, they have. And I couldn't fucking be happier about it!"

Tina grumbled and added, "Like you two weren't bad enough before. My _god_...."

Rachel pulled out a bar stool and motioned for Puck to go help Nick in the kitchen. Tina sat down beside her and leaned in close. "So seriously? Do the hormones really make you worse? I mean...I've heard that but it's not like I have ever been pregnant and..."

Grinning, Rachel leaned in and whispered, "My goodness, Tina. You just...It's just.... I can't get enough! Noah and I have always had a healthy sex life but it's like I want him _all the time. _I'm afraid I'm going to end up chafing his...his..._you know_."

Tina snorted with laughter and Rachel hid her face behind her hands as she giggled helplessly. Puck and Nick both looked up from the stove long enough to give the women a curious look before returning to their normal conversation, which involved the latest sports celebrity to be revealed as a manwhore.

"I just...it's just incredible. It's like my senses are in overdrive because I can be at home and smell his scent on his pillow or on a shirt and I am just _dying _for him. Yesterday, I barely let him in the door when he got home from work. I would be mortified at my inability to control myself if it weren't so much fun! I mean, I've been ridiculously attracted to him since I was 16, obviously, but now..." Rachel looked up, staring lustily at her husband's side profile for a moment before glancing back at Tina. "But now? I can't even...."

"I'm jealous," Tina replied in a low whisper.

"Get pregnant," Rachel offered in return.

From the kitchen, she heard Nick roar "Oh hell no!" and glance her way. Rachel and Tina met each other's eyes and then erupted into laughter, realizing that Nick and Puck had heard everything they'd said.

With a predatory grin, Puck walked out of his kitchen and around to Rachel, where he wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear, "Glad to know you're so hot for me, babe. Wanna do it in the truck before we head home?"

Rachel reddened and smacked his chest but her eyes told a different story. "Noah! I--" Her eyes shifted to look around them quickly before she lowered her voice dramatically and whispered, "Ask me later."

Puck laughed and dropped a gentle kiss on her lips. _I am so goddamn lucky. _

**

* * *

Still to come in BWABS: The sex of the baby is revealed (or is it?), a trip home to Lima and a reunion with some Gleeks, a wedding, and a baby, of course!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: See, no two-week gap this time! And because of this chapter, this story is now Rated M. I tried to avoid that M rating with this story but in the end…I couldn't. Blame Puck. Well actually, in this case, Rachel needs the blame.**

* * *

"Noah, I've done some thinking today," Rachel began as she took a bite of her salad one night during her 16th week of pregnancy, "and I've decided that I _don't_ want to find out the sex of the baby after all. I think I want to be surprised."

Puck shoved a french fry loaded with ketchup into his mouth and glared at Rachel from across the table. "I was looking forward to finding out, babe. Why do you wanna be surprised?"

Rachel shrugged before smiling at the waitress who was refilling her tea. "I just do…I think it will be amazing to not know until he or she is born. I mean, it's really the ultimate surprise if you think about it."

Fine," Puck muttered before biting into his Buffalo chicken sandwich. "But just know that I'm letting you get your way..._again._"

* * *

"I've changed my mind, Noah," Rachel said in a loud whisper as she shook Puck awake at 3am.

Bleary-eyed and groggy, he turned toward her in the bed. "Wha? _Huh_?"

"I think I _do_ want to know the sex of the baby after all! It would be easier if we knew!"

Puck yawned and wrapped his arm around Rachel's waist as he flipped back over on his stomach. "Yup, babe, it would. Now go to sleep. The doctor's appointment is in five hours. You need your rest."

Closing her eyes, Rachel willed herself back to sleep. _We do need to know…_

* * *

Rachel registered at the reception desk and then took a seat next to Puck, whose eyes were shifting around the room uncomfortably.

Placing a reassuring hand on his knee, she soothed, "Relax. You're tensed up for positively no reason."

Puck gave her a forced half-smile and shifted in his seat, flinging his arm over the back of the chair. "Sorry but lady doctors freak me out a little. I can't imagine what goes on behind those doors."

Rachel laughed and pecked him on the cheek. "It's not bad, I promise. Besides, we're just here for the ultrasound anyway. You won't be grossed our or horrified during this visit, I assure you. They're not even going to check my cervix!"

Puck's face went white as he tried to get a visual of some strange person checking his wife's cervix. _Although_...the more he thought about it, the more it sounded like the beginning of one of his girl-on-girl pornos and _that _wasn't actually a bad thing.

Puck's face was still screwed up into a goofy grin when the wooden door opened and an elderly, squat nurse announced "Puckerman?" as her eyes swept the room. Rachel jumped up and grabbed Puck by the hand, dragging him in after her.

Once they were situated in a room, Rachel changed into the gown while Puck stared at the gestational progression posters on the wall. He was weirded out by the whole thing. No, this wasn't his first child but it _was _his first child with Rachel and the first one he would get to hold and love and play with and help to raise. He'd been to a few appointments with Quinn but honestly, it had been so long ago and he'd tried to block a lot of those painful memories out. _This_ baby was very different from _that _one.

The technician who would be conducting the ultrasound walked in minutes later and smiled at the couple. "Hello Rachel, Noah…How are you feeling, Rachel?"

From her position reclining on the table, Rachel smiled. "Doing wonderfully. I feel great. I'm eating right. Morning sickness is gone. Overall, I couldn't ask for better!"

_And she's horny as fuck, _Puck thought about adding but decided Rachel's wrath wasn't worth it so he kept his mouth shut.

The technician smiled warmly and then turned on the ultrasound machine. Pushing Rachel's gown up, she squirted the gel on her belly and grabbed the wand. "Let's see how that baby is doing."

A few seconds later, a grayish blob appeared on the screen. The technician stilled her movements and said, "That's the heartbeat. Very strong," before sliding the wand over other parts of the moving, blobbish creature.

Puck watched in awe. _My baby. That's my kid. It's so…real. It's right there… Holy fuck! _He had been to one other ultrasound appointment but it had been weeks ago and he could tell that the baby had already changed so much. He couldn't help but be amazed at what he saw._  
_

Rachel blinked several times, tears forming, as the doctor pointed out arms and legs.

"Do you want to know the sex?"

"Yes," Puck said quickly.

"No," Rachel answered at the exact same time.

Puck turned toward Rachel. "I thought you wanted to know?"

"I'm sorry," Rachel said as she bit her lip. "I changed my mind again."

Puck sighed loudly as the technician looked between the two of them.

"Noah, I can tell you if you'd like. If you think you can keep it a secret from Rachel, come here and I'll tell you."

Puck didn't hesitate. Hopping up from his chair, he quickly made his way toward the woman. She glanced at Rachel before whispering in his ear.

Rachel watched the broad grin come over Puck's face and felt a pang of jealousy. _Wait…no. I don't want to know. I need to be surprised. _

Walking back toward Rachel, Puck took her hand and kissed her head. "It's amazing, babe. It's…wow."

She looked at him, watched his eyes go dark green and could tell that he was getting emotional.

"If you want to know, just ask. I'll tell you," he said softly, staring at the image of the baby on the screen.

The technician printed out a few pictures and shut the machine off. "Here are photos. Rachel, I'll need to see you back in a few weeks. Noah, good luck keeping it secret!"

Puck shook the woman's hand and then she left, leaving them alone. As Rachel stood up, she removed the gown and wiped the gel from her stomach. Puck's eyes dropped and zeroed in on the swell of her stomach, which was growing more every day. _My baby…right there. _

He swallowed hard, afraid he was going to be overwhelmed and start crying like a girl. Seeing the images in front of him coupled with _knowing _what they were having bowled him over.

When Rachel was dressed, Puck snagged her around the waist and pulled her down on his lap. "Thank you," he said softly, his lips running over her neck.

"For?" she asked, brushing a hand over his head.

"Loving me enough to have my baby," he said honestly. "And letting me be here for this…and for the future…"

Rachel felt herself start to tear up so she pressed her lips against his. "You're my world, Noah. You have been forever…and now our world will expand for this little one and I couldn't be happier."

They kissed again before being interrupted by a knock on the door. Parting just as a nurse walked in, she handed Rachel some more paperwork and bid them goodbye.

Hand-in-hand, they exited the doctor's office, both beaming. Puck was nearly delirious because he knew _what _they were having and Rachel was happy to see _him _so happy.

* * *

Later that night, Rachel slipped into a thin silk nightgown and walked into the bedroom. Puck watched her, his eyes full of desire, as she slinked toward him silently across the carpet.

"Hi," she said softly, standing at the foot of the bed.

Puck's eyes appraised her appreciatively. "C'mere, baby," he groaned, his eye settling on the outline of her nipples.

She climbed into the bed and straddled his lap. He quickly pushed her nightgown down until it pooled around her waist and took first one nipple, and then the other, between his lips. Rachel arched into him, already totally aroused. She was shocked at how quickly she could be _so _ready for him these days. It barely took more than a glance and she was practically keening his name.

Puck rolled her over onto the blankets and towered over her, brushing his lips against her as he plucked at her nipples. Rachel impatiently arched her body towards him and he slid down, grasping her panties and tossing them on the floor.

He was as hard as a rock and was _just _about to ram into her when he had the most horrible thought. In his mind's eye, he could just see his dick getting too deep and bopping the baby on the forehead. _What if I beam the baby in the head with my cock? Oh god…what if I hurt the baby? _Flashes of the baby coming out with a huge dent in its forehead sent a shudder through him.

Rachel, unaware of his internal conflict, groaned loudly. "Noah? What are you _doing. _Come _on _already!"

_Fuck. I don't know what to do! _Puck was dying…he wanted to fuck her _so badly _because she was so hot with all those hormones racing through her tiny body. She rode his dick like it was a champion racehorse (and it really fucking was) almost every fucking night and he couldn't get enough of her. _But the baby… I don't want to hurt the baby! _

Frustrated, Puck pushed her thighs open and buried his head between her legs. When he swirled his tongue over her clit as he slipped three fingers inside her, she forgot all about the fact that he wasn't out to please himself tonight and rode his fingers over the edge.

After she came, she pushed herself up on her elbows long enough to look at him and say, "That was....thank you." Then she collapsed back onto the bed again, her chest still heaving.

He slid up her body, kissing her and letting her taste herself on his lips before flipping over on his back and sliding between the blankets. "Let's go to sleep, babe."

"Aren't you…don't you...?" She bit her lip, looking down at his erection outlined beneath his boxers.

"I'm fine, babe…all about you tonight. Let's go to sleep."

Shrugging, Rachel climbed beneath the covers and settled herself into his arms. In a few minutes, she fell into a deep post-orgasmic sleep and Puck laid there, staring at the ceiling and wondering how the hell he was going to fuck his wife without making their kid stupid.

* * *

The next night, right before Puck went down on Rachel yet again, she gave him _the look. _It was the look he hated most of all her looks (and she had many.) It said, "are you mad at me? What are you hiding? Why aren't we having sex?" That look made him feel like the lowest form of shit. So that night, after he'd made her come from his tongue twice, he happily accepted the blowjob she offered. She seemed satisfied with that and they both fell asleep quickly afterward and another night of keeping their bundle of joy uninjured was successful.

* * *

The third night, when he went to bed about thirty minutes before her and pretended to be asleep when she climbed into bed, he felt like an asshole. In all their years together, he had _never _avoided sex. (Hell, he'd never actually avoided sex in his entire life. Period.) His sex life with Rachel had always been nothing short of incredible. Long before the baby was on their radar, she was always so passionate and willing. The fact that she seemed to always want him just as much as he wanted her was one of the _many _things that he loved about her. So yeah, he felt like total shit. But the baby…his mind always traveled back to that little image on the screen and he was overwhelmed with fear. He couldn't hurt the baby.

* * *

The sixth morning after no sex the night before, Rachel slept in and barely noticed when Puck kissed her on the temple and let himself out to head to work. Once she got up, though, she felt horribly depressed.

Once she'd eaten her Special K with sliced banana, she dialed up Tina.

"Noah won't have sex with me," Rachel whined as soon as Tina answered the phone.

From her apartment a few miles away, Tina stretched and rolled out of bed, heading into the living room.

"What? Just a few weeks ago, you were screwing like crazy. Hello? You had sex in Puck's truck in the parking garage of Nick's apartment like you were 17 years old!"

Rachel blushed at the memory. _That was incredible. _Refocusing, she glared into the phone. "But since we went to the doctor last week, he barely touches me! It's like seeing the baby and finding out what the sex is totally turned him off or something! Do you think he's not attracted to me anymore?"

Tina snorted. "Rachel? This is _Puck. _Do you remember him from high school? Do you remember why you moved all the way to Seattle to get away from him all those years ago? Because of _sex. _It's kinda his thing…especially when it comes to you! And _oh my god! _You found out the sex of the baby? Why didn't you tell me? What are you having?"

"Noah found out. I didn't want to know. I want to be surprised. But back to the subject at hand, which is the fact that my husband no longer wants me…what do I do?"

Tina grumbled. "I dunno….Isn't normally pretty easy to entice him? What does it usually take?"

Rachel stared at the ceiling as she milled over Tina's question. "Well, usually, I really just have to say something that rhymes with "sex" and he's _there._ I mean, I can say "rex" or even "tex-mex" and he's all ears. It doesn't take much."

Tina's laughter vibrated through the receiver. "Well there ya go! Go buy some hot lingerie and seduce him. You know him. He'll probably fuck you up against the door if you greet him lookin' all slutty."

Rachel turned red at the idea of him taking her against the door. She felt heat pool between her thighs and nodded as she spoke, "I think you're right, Tina. Noah is unable to resist lingerie. It makes him turn wordless and stupid. So that's exactly the route I'll take. Thanks!"

* * *

When Puck got home that evening, the house was dark and quiet. After he kicked off his shoes, he flipped through the mail and then tossed it on the table. When he spun around, Rachel was standing there in a red lacy bra, matching panties, and heels.

"Babe?" he questioned curiously as his eyes settled on the dusky brown nipples he could see peeking through the lace.

"Hi, Noah. I thought I'd spice things up a bit." She walked toward him and his eyes slid down her torso to her long legs, feeling himself instantly get hard.

_Fuck. She's seducing me. What the fuck? I can't say no to this. She's _so_ goddamn hot. I just want to fuck her over the back of the couch. _

Puck watched, wordlessly, as Rachel reached between her breasts and flicked open the bra clasp. Pulling it open, she bit her lip as it hung from her shoulders, her breasts now free. She leaned back against the wall, her fingers playing over her breasts as she squeezed and then pulled at her nipples. She let out a little moan because the look in his eyes was pure lust.

"Oh, _fuck_," Puck groaned as he watched her slide a hand inside her panties.

She smiled in response before closing her eyes in pleasure as her finger brushed against her clit. She pulled her hand back out, shrugging the bra off and dropping it to the floor. Turning her back on him, she bent over and began sliding her panties down. When her pussy was bared to his view, Puck shuddered and felt his cock start to throb. She was _so_ fucking wet already. It took everything in him to not pound himself into her at that moment. Stepping out of her panties, she kicked the away and leaned back against the wall. Her hands found their way between her thighs again and he watched, transfixed, as she played with herself in front of him.

Growling, Puck was on her in a heartbeat. He pushed her hand aside and rubbed his index finger hotly over her clit, pressing just to the right side of it like he knew she liked. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, her mouth falling open as a guttural moan escaped her throat.

"So fucking sexy, baby," he gritted into her ear as his fingers spread her open. Sliding his index and middle fingers inside her, he grunted, "Trying to play dirty and fucking seduce me, aren't you?"

Rachel nodded helplessly, unable to speak because of the feel of his fingers hitting her g-spot repeatedly.

Her legs started to tremble and she knew she was going to come. She pushed Puck's hand away and put a hand on his chest, backing him toward the couch. He stumbled onto it and she straddled him, unbuttoning and unzipping his pants. Her hand disappeared inside his boxers and circled his cock. When she's pulled it out, she met his eyes for a split second before bending her head to lick the and suck at the tip.

Puck groaned and wrapped his fingers through her hair to guide her up and down on him. _ Fucking lack of a gag reflex. _He thrust into her mouth, his cock throbbing as he watched her hand slide back between her thighs to rub herself again. With an audible pop, she let him slip from her mouth and slid up is body. Grasping his length in her hand, she positioned him at her entrance and was about to push herself onto him when he gripped her shoulders and pushed her away.

"Rach, no. We can't. We can't do this."

Rachel jerked away from him, wrapping her arms around herself and walking to the other side of the room. When she looked up at him, there were tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong with me, Noah? Don't you want me anymore? You told me you would be attracted to me no matter how large I got…" Rachel glanced down at her small baby bump as a tear rolled down her cheeks.

Puck ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled loudly, his chest hurting at his wife's pain. "Baby, what…_no_…That's not it _at all_." He walked toward her and put a hand on her shoulder but she pulled away.

"Yes it is because you obviously don't want me anymore! If what I just did failed to arouse you, nothing will."

"Fuck, Rachel, of course I'm fucking aroused," Puck muttered. He looked up and met her sad eyes. "Do you want the truth?"

Sitting down on the couch, Rachel looked dejectedly at the floor. "It would be nice."

Puck sat down beside her. "I've been avoiding it – and it's fucking killing me, by the way – because…I'm afraid of hurting the baby."

Rachel's eyes went wide and she turned her head toward him. "Hurting the baby? How?"

Puck shrugged. "You know…what if I'm givin' it to ya really good and I get too fucking deep and…"

Rachel giggled. "Noah, how are you going to hurt our baby that way? That's insane. Sex is very healthy. How, possibly, could you hurt our baby?"

Puck stood up and paced in front of the couch. Finally, he announced loudly, "I'm afraid my cock will hit her in the head and give her brain damage!"

_Her? HER? _Rachel's eyes watered. "We're having a girl?" she squeaked.

Puck sat back down, the feeling of utter defeat coursing through him. "Shit, I didn't mean to let it slip but yes…we're having a girl."

Rachel squealed and threw her arms around Puck's neck. "We're having a girl! I'm going to have a little girl! I can dress her up in cute clothes and take her to music lessons and go shopping and…" she pulled back and kissed Puck deeply. "Noah! We're having a girl!"

"I know, babe… it's pretty fucking exciting. I keep picturing a little version of you running around and it kinda freaks me the fuck out. I am already planning on buying a shotgun to protect her from all the horny boys that I know will be after her someday. I remember how _I _was around you in high school and _our_ daughter is going to be so beautiful that we'll have to lock her in her room until she's old enough for her first date at 70."

Puck wrapped his arms around Rachel and pulled her down on the couch with him.

"I'm sorry I've been avoiding sex. I sure as shit haven't wanted to. Do you know how hard it is to say no to your hot little ass? It's just…knowing that there's a little girl inside you just…freaked me out. I don't want to hurt her…I love her too much already."

Rachel giggled, rolling toward Puck and burying her head in his chest. "First of all, Noah, you're _insane _if you think your dick is big enough to bonk our baby in the brain! You may be well endowed but you're hardly a porno-sized freak. Second…" She paused for a moment, "…you're an idiot. I think it's sweet that you're so worried about her but I assure you, you have _nothing _to fret about. Our baby girl is going to be fine even if we have sex constantly up until the day I'm due, which I doubt will happen because I've read that sex in the third trimester can get uncomfortable...but that's hardly the point. The point is that I am touched by your concern but it's completely unwarranted. It's not possible for you to injure her in the way you've been worrying. She will be _fine._"

Puck sighed into Rachel's hair. "I'm sorry, baby. I know I'm an irrational idiot. Forgive me?"

Rachel nodded, tilting her head up to kiss him. Puck grabbed her around the waist and rolled them over so that she was above him. He kissed her on her lips, sliding his lips down over her collarbone before capturing a bared breast to nip at the tender skin.

"Fuck me?" he asked with a wink.

Rachel nodded happily and with an anticipatory groan, rubbed herself over his length. When he slid inside her a few minutes later, they both grunted loudly because it felt like _forever_ since he'd been inside her. Rachel noticed he was being a little more gentle than he normally would be as she rode him but she let it go. He'd get his stride back…and their daughter wouldn't come out with a dented head, either.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: NINE DAYS TIL I SEE GLEE LIVE IN CHICAGO! *runs frantically around the room, fangirling and screaming.* **

**Okay, composing myself.... **

**Anyway, here is chapter 6 of 12. We'll be revisiting Lima soon and I'm looking forward to that trip!**

* * *

"Mom, no—Mom, I think it's—No, Mom, I'm serious, you really don—Mom, it's probably just—" Puck exhaled loudly into the phone, a helpless, frustrated look on his face. "Fine, Mom—Okay. We'll see you then."

Puck clicked the phone off and threw it as hard as he could into the cushions on the couch. From the kitchen, Rachel gave him a sad but understanding look.

"Couldn't talk her out of it, could you?"

Shaking his head, he dropped onto the couch and leaned back, his eyes full of woe. "Hell no. She's insistent. She said she wanted to make sure our home was an appropriate place to bring a child into the world. Can you believe that shit? She knows how much money we spent on this fucking house. Cost three times the heap she lives in now…but _she _needs to give us _her _approval on _our _house? Fuck."

Rachel snickered and walked from the kitchen into the living room, sitting down on the couch. She tucked her feet under legs and pulled Puck's arm up so that it draped around her shoulder.

"When will she be here?"

"Next fucking Tuesday afternoon," Puck groused.

Sighing, Rachel said, "We'll just have to make the best of it. How long is she staying?"

"Six fucking days," he grumbled, silently wondering when his life turned to shit.

Puck glanced down at the swell of Rachel's belly before flipping up her shirt. Bending over, he placed his open palm on the 20-weeks-along and ever-expanding baby bump and spoke in a low voice, "I hope that you don't turn out like your grandmother. She's fucking insane...even worse than your mother. Grandma's a bat-shit crazy old bag and you'll probably wanna kill her."

"Noah!" Rachel tapped him smartly on the back of the head. "Don't poison our daughter from the womb! At the rate you're going, she's going to come out tattooed and swearing."

Puck glanced up at Rachel long enough to roll his eyes before dropping his gaze back down to Rachel's belly. "What? The baby needs to know….My fucking mother is just…argh!"

"Hon, calm down. I really don't think it's going to be that bad. We haven't seen her in ages. She's so excited about the house and the baby. She just wants to see us. So we'll make the best of it, okay?" Rachel put her hand on Puck's face and he nipped at her fingers before lifting his head to kiss her.

"I hope you're right. And you'd better not be pissed when I kick her ass out on the street less than an hour after she gets here."

* * *

Tuesday, Rachel was on pins and needles. Puck took the day off and was pacing the living room with such force and speed that Rachel was afraid he was going to cause enough friction between his socks and the carpet to start a fire. Maggie had insisted that she would take a cab from the airport so that Puck wouldn't have to deal with the insanity of airport traffic. Her plane had landed an hour before so they both knew that at any time, she would arrive.

Puck had finally calmed down enough to flop down on the couch in a feeble attempt at relaxing when he heard a car door slam outside. Hopping back up, he raced to the front door and looked out.

"Shit. _Fuck_. Damn. _Hell_," he muttered.

"Noah, be nice," Rachel admonished from behind him.

He quickly turned to glare at her before pulling open the door. Sucking in a breath, he stepped out into the driveway to face his doom...err...mother.

Rachel stood back in the foyer, listening through the wide open door. She heard Maggie screech and then heard Puck say something muffled, which indicated that his head must be buried in her neck. Peeking out, she saw Puck and his mother wrapped in a hug.

_Big softie. Pretends she drives him crazy but every boy needs his momma. _Biting her lip to keep from grinning too broadly, Rachel stepped outside.

"Hello, Maggie!" she said happily.

Maggie looked up from her hug, saw Rachel standing there, dropped her eyes to her visibly pregnant belly, and shoved Puck aside. Running quickly to Rachel, she wrapped her in a huge hug and kissed both her cheeks. Then she stooped down and announced to Rachel's belly, "Hi baby girl! I'm your grandma. I can't wait to see you and love you and squeeze you! I hope you have your father's beautiful eyes and your mother's amazing voice."

Rachel jerked suddenly and Maggie and Puck both looked at her. Rachel's eyes went wide and she laughed. "Sorry...she kicked again."

Maggie's eyes widened. "She's kicking?"

Puck walked up and dropped his arm across Rachel's shoulders. "Yup, she started kicking last week. Well, so we could both feel it anyway." Rachel smiled at the beaming, proud look on Puck's face.

Maggie squealed and pulled Rachel to her, her mouth just inches from Rachel's belly. "You like the sound of your Nana's voice, don't you, baby?"

As Maggie made baby talk to Rachel's stomach, Rachel shot Puck a begging glace. Puck put his hand on Maggie's shoulder, pushing her upright. "Back off, Mom. Don't scare her or she's going to be born already having nightmares...and you're annoying Rachel!"

Shooting Puck a stern look, Maggie wrapped her arm around Rachel and turned her toward the house. "Give me a tour of this beautiful home, Rachel!"

Puck watched his wife and mother head toward the house and groaned. _Gonna be such a long fucking week. _Bending to scoop up her luggage, Puck followed the women inside as he contemplated matricide.

Once he'd offloaded the bags in the guest bedroom (with the closet that Rachel hated), he flopped down on the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table as he thumbed the remote to turn the TV on. Settling into an all-important update on ESPN, the house was blissfully peaceful for a few moments as Rachel and Maggie were upstairs in the room that would become the nursery. Silence was fleeting, however, because just minutes later, they were tromping down the stairs.

"Noah, honey, this house is gorgeous. Rachel has such good taste for picking it out!"

Puck turned to glare at his mother. "Rach hated this house at first, Mom. _I _was the one that wanted to live here. She thought the closets had bad karma!"

Maggie gave him a disbelieving stare and then turned to her beloved daughter-in-law. "You go sit down, honey, because I am going to fix you and that baby a big, delicious dinner!"

"Fuck, Mom, do I get to eat, too?" Puck pushed himself off the couch and stomped into the kitchen where he dropped his arm across Rachel's shoulders and tugged her back for a kiss. Maggie beamed at their display of affection and then began yanking vegetables and meat from the fridge with fervor.

"Of course you get to eat, silly. But Rachel is supporting your daughter and she's already _so _tiny that we need to feed her! That baby needs to grow, grow, grow! You were so scrawny when you were born, Noah, so I don't want your baby to have the problems you had!"

Rachel's eyes bugged and she turned to survey the muscular, nearly 6" tall frame of her husband. "_He _was scrawny?"

Maggie snorted as she chopped carrots. "Oh, Rachel, he was just skin and bones. And for the first few months after he was born, he couldn't keep anything down. He would just projectile vomit everything right back up! We were so worried he'd always be a weakling. By the time he turned one, though, he'd pretty much caught up with the other babies."

"Mom, really? Rachel doesn't wanna hear baby stories about me." Puck wanted this conversation to end before they descended into stories about him as a toddler and a little boy and he had to go hang himself.

Rachel noticed Puck shift uncomfortably and she changed the subject. "So, Maggie, have you been telling all your friends about the baby?"

Maggie smiled. "Between your father and I, the entire Jewish community of Lima knows and is ecstatic."

Puck rolled his eyes. "D'ya ever talk to non-Jews, Mom? I mean, the Lima Jewish community consists of, like, fifteen families."

Tsking at her son, Maggie turned to Rachel. "We haven't told a lot of your old friends that are still in town because we wanted to see if you wanted to do a baby announcement in _The Lima News. _This is your wonderful news to share, you know!"

Rachel and Puck looked at one another. Did they want everyone in Lima to know? Rachel bit her lip as she thought, _it would be amusing to announce that bad boy bully Noah Puckerman knocked up the freak Rachel Berry. _It was definitely something to think about.

Rachel grabbed a knife and began to help Maggie chop potatoes. Puck went and sat down on a barstool, watching the two women in his life work. They were silent for a few moments and Puck watched Rachel, smiling at the contented look on her face.

"Oh, Noah," Maggie sighed, glancing at Rachel's belly, "I just keep thinking about how different things could have been. I am just _so_ glad that you and that Kim woman didn't work out. Otherwise, this baby might not be on the way now and that's just…a horrible thought!"

Puck's mouth gaped open. "Did you really just mention Kim, Mom? _Really_?"

Rachel snorted with laughter, realizing that Maggie was about to start into her "how my son almost screwed up" diatribe. She'd done it a few times over the years that the two had been married and, Rachel suspected, would do it as long as she was breathing.

Maggie just glowered, pointing the tip of her knife at her son, "I'm just saying that I'm happy that you're having this baby with _Rachel_, Noah, not _her. _I mean, I would love my grandchild regardless but _Rachel_ was my choice back then and so I couldn't be happier now. Rachel was always the only girl I could see you with long-term."

Groaning, Puck walked back over to Rachel and wrapped his arms around her waist, settling his hands on her bump. "S'ok, Mom. She was my choice, too…just took me a bit to figure it out."

Rachel ran her fingers along his hands and smiled. They'd done _plenty _of talking about everything that had happened between them during that rough time five years ago. They were totally at peace with their tumultuous beginnings because without them, they weren't sure they would have ever realized how much they loved one another. Maggie, however, still loved to talk about it because the only scandal in her boring life usually came from her son (pregnant non-girlfriend as a teenager, sleeping with the town's cougars, cheating on his fiancé with Rachel, etc.) They usually humored her because their visits with her were brief.

After they all sat down to dinner, Maggie started lecturing on appropriate Jewish baby names. Rachel squeezed Puck's hand under the table and he wondered, again, how the hell he was going to survive her visit.

Hours later, once Maggie had passed out from exhaustion due to traveling, Puck and Rachel finally got some quiet time. Rachel came out of the bathroom, flipped off the light, and crawled into the bed next to Puck. He was flipping through a magazine, which he casually tossed aside as she scooted up into the bed.

"So that went okay," Rachel said, tucking herself against him once she was under the blankets.

Puck pressed his lips against her forehead, breathing in the scent of her hair. "If you mean I didn't kill her ass, then yeah, it went okay."

"Noah, it's good to have your mother around. I have some pregnancy questions to ask her…and I think this will be a good bonding experience for us."

"I'm glad you're so optimistic, babe. I feel kinda bad about the fact that I have to work the rest of this week, though. I know you're stuck dealing with her but I need to save my vacation for when the baby is born."

Rachel patted his thigh. "Your mother and I are going to go shopping and tour Seattle. And we'll catch up, I'll get to ask her all those baby questions and get to hear terribly embarrassing baby stories about you that I'll be able to hold over your head later." She stretched up and kissed him on the lips before reaching over to flip out the light on the nightstand.

When the room was dark and quiet, Puck muttered, "I think I can hear her snoring from here."

"Noah," Rachel whined, "it's going to be a long visit if you obsess. Now shut up and get over here."

"Rach! You're crazy if you think I'm fucking you tonight. My mother's next door!"

Rachel groaned. _If that's how he wants to play, fine. _Rachel sat up and yanked her nightgown over her head. Crawling on top of him, she straddled his thighs, rubbing her panty-clad crotch against his boxers as she gripped his arms, holding them against the covers. "We've had sex in Lima when we stayed with your mother. I'm _sure _you had sex in your house when you still lived at home. I _need_ sex and _you're _giving it to me, got it?"

_Fuck, _Puck thought as he went totally hard in mere seconds, _she's hot when she's bossy. _He pretended to struggle slightly just so she'd get pushier and she responded in kind, holding his arms down tighter as she brushed her nipples against his lips. When his tongue flicked out and flitted against one, she let go of his arms as a thrill rippled through her. He flipped them over and went to work as Rachel smiled contentedly into the darkness. _He's so easy. _

* * *

The next few days of Maggie's visit went by in a blur for Rachel. Between the shopping and the copious amounts of food Maggie practically shoved down her throat, Rachel was actually having a great time playing hostess. On the Friday after she arrived, they met Puck at work so he could take them out to lunch. Of course, all his female co-workers had to fawn over Rachel's little baby bump and then Maggie had to meet Puck's boss and by the time they finally made it toward the door, he wanted to kill himself. He kept hoping that this would be a low-key pregnancy but he'd heard a few of his co-workers already talking about throwing a baby shower for him. Rachel just smiled sweetly at his co-workers and assured them that she'd send updated ultrasound pictures with Puck after their next doctor's visit.

Once they sat down to eat, Puck blew out a breath. _Just a few more days and things can go back to normal._

"Noah, did you know that we discovered a baby outlet today? I spent an insane amount of money on pink clothing. We'll show you when you get home tonight," Maggie announced as she took a bite of her sandwich.

"Mom, Rachel has a show tonight," he informed her.

Maggie's eyes widened. "Oh yes! I forgot! I can't believe you're allowed to still perform. You're showing, Rachel!"

"My costume does a good job of camouflaging my stomach. And the show ends in two weeks, anyway."

Maggie started to speak but Puck cut her off. "And she's not doing any more shows after that, Mom, so don't even start. I know she's gonna go fucking insane not being able to act."

Rachel grinned. "But I'm still going to be giving voice lessons. I'll be fine. I have plenty of planning and organizing to do before the baby is born anyway. And we have to decorate the nursery and buy all the furniture."

Maggie perked up. "We can do that while I'm here! I have plenty of ideas!"

Puck groaned. "Fuck, Mom. Rachel's only halfway through her pregnancy and we can't decide on a color or theme yet, anyway. Besides, _you _are not decorating _my _kid's nursery."

As usual, Maggie ignored her son and turned to her daughter-in-law. "So can I come watch you perform tonight? It would be lovely!"

Rachel nodded. "Absolutely. You can ride to the theater with me."

"Nah, babe, s'ok," Puck interjected. "I'll take her. I haven't seen the show since opening weekend anyway. Will be good to see you do your thing one more time before you can't see your feet anymore."

Maggie smiled happily. Her son was taking her on a date!

* * *

Before Puck and Rachel knew it, Sunday had arrived and Maggie was heading back to Ohio. She'd spent $250 on baby clothes and toys and started a college fund at a local bank. As Puck and Rachel watched the cab pull away, Rachel sighed and leaned into his arms.

"That was exhausting, hon," she said.

"I know…_fuck_, I know. Please tell me she won't be visiting again until the baby is at least five."

Rachel tipped her head back and laughed as they walked back inside and Puck closed the door.

"But she's going to be an amazing grandmother, Noah, can't you admit that?"

Puck shrugged. "She wasn't a bad mother. She should win a fucking award for having let me grow up without sending me to military school. So yeah, she'll spoil the baby rotten whenever she sees her."

Opening the fridge, Puck pulled out a soda and popped the top. Taking a drink, he glanced at Rachel. She was staring at him curiously, chewing on her lip.

"What?" he asked, confused by her look.

"It's just…" she began as she stepped toward him, "…that we've had to be _so _restrained these past six days." She ran her hand down his abdomen and pulled his shirt from shorts, leaning up to press her lips against his throat. "And now-" she added as she lowered his zipper, "-I think you need to make me scream."

Puck groaned. This forever-horny version of Rachel was something he wanted to keep around long after the baby was born. Sure, she'd always loved sex but this Rachel? _This_ Rachel couldn't get enough of his hot ass and he _loved _it. Picking her up, he dumped her on the couch and pushed the straps of her sundress down, quickly sending it to the floor. Dropping to his knees, he kissed her stomach gently before yanking her panties down and pushing her thighs apart. Puck looked up at Rachel, meeting her eyes, and licked his lips suggestively. She shuddered in anticipation and he bent his head down, licking a slow, wide stripe up her slit. When her fingers threaded through his hair and she gripped his head tightly, he grinned into her body. _Time to make up for six days of quiet, boring, Mom-is-in-the-house sex._


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: **This will be my last update on this story for about a week, at least. Having company come in on Monday and then we're heading to Chicago for Glee Live on Tuesday. I need to clean my house this weekend so that we do not give off the appearance of being _complete_ pigs. Will be back after the concert (provided I'm not in jail for throwing myself on stage and locking my arms around Mark's leg! Because, honestly, with as hot as he makes me, it COULD happen (hello? Seen the new GQ pictures? *dead*)

Also, this chapter references several things that happened in the prequel to this story, "All Roads Lead to You." So if you are a bit confused, that's why! This story is, after all, a sequel.

* * *

On a rare sunny Saturday morning in early September, Rachel and Tina met in downtown Seattle for some shopping and girl time while Puck and Nick went for a round of golf. Tina was shopping for the perfect dress for her upcoming, incredibly small wedding to Nick in early November. As they entered the dress shop, Rachel looked longingly at all the beautiful gowns that would no longer fit her still fit but increasingly large body.

Tina wandered quietly through the racks, contemplating what would go best with her body type, as Rachel's eyes swept over the rows and rows of dresses, assessing and analyzing the best gown for Tina.

"Tell me again, T, why are you not wearing white?" Rachel eyed a beautiful floor-length, white eyelet dress hanging on the end of a rack.

Tina glanced over the dress and rolled her eyes. "Because we're not being married in a church, I'm _not _a virgin, and I look ridiculous in white."

"I got married in white," Rachel offered softly. "And I wasn't a virgin either! And the white would look glorious with your skin tone."

Tina pulled a pale yellow dress from the rack and looked it up and down before making a retching noise and shoving it back onto the rack. "Yeah, but you can pull it off. You have the perfect body and looked _amazing _in everything you wear_. _I would just look stupid. And besides, we're literally just inviting, like, twenty people. I don't want to spend much and make a huge production out of it. It took me three months to convince Nick that we deserved more than going down to the courthouse and getting hitched in Small Claims Court. A white dress would just freak him out and you know how skittish he already is."

Rachel nodded her head, knowing exactly what she was talking about. She smirked when she remembered how Tina had orchestrated a date between herself and Nick five years ago. But Rachel hadn't been over Puck yet so she and Nick had never been more than friends. Tina and Nick had reconnected at Rachel and Puck's wedding and less than six months later, Tina had moved from Lima to Seattle to be with him, even though it took him another three years to propose to her.

Tina shoved dresses back and forth on the racks, groaning about hideous fabrics and muttering under her breath for several minutes. Rachel spied a red dress that she knew would make Noah fall to his knees if she wore it, then sadly glanced down at her protruding stomach. Resting her hand on the swell of her belly, she softly told the bump, "I better get my flat stomach back, baby girl! Your daddy would _love _to see me in this dress so he could take it right back off me." Sighing wistfully, she placed it back on the rack and as she did, her hand brushed against a dress that she hadn't noticed before. Pulling it from the rack, she eyed it carefully.

"T," Rachel began, her eyes brushing over the flowing silver gown, "what about this one?"

Tina looked up from the green monstrosity she had been holding and her mouth fell open. She quickly ran to Rachel and grabbed the dress. Her eyes lit up as she took it in. "This is it, Rachel. This has _got _to be it!"

Rachel watched her make a mad dash for the dressing room and when she emerged just minutes later, she took Rachel's breath away.

"Oh, Tina," Rachel oozed. "That is absolutely _divine. _Nick will die. You _have _to buy this dress."

Tina nodded, her eyes huge and dreamy. "Rach, can you come over here and look at the pricetag for me? I haven't looked yet and frankly, I don't want to. Just look at it…and I'll know by your eyes what I'm dealing with."

Laughing, Rachel walked over to Tina and lifted the tag from the soft material. Her eyes bulged slightly and she gulped before meeting Tina's eyes.

"Oh hell, it's insane, isn't it?" Tina chewed her lower lip as Rachel nodded in agreement, her eyes apologetic.

Sucking in a breath, Tina closed her eyes. "I don't care. It's gorgeous and I'm buying it anyway… It's worth it." Unsure of her last statement, Tina added, "right?"

Rachel hugged Tina tightly. "Of course it's worth it. You will be a _gorgeous_ bride."

* * *

It happened on a Tuesday afternoon. Rachel had been organizing the shelves in the guestroom, dusting and going through things, when she stumbled upon her box of family memories. Inside were the DVDs of many of the videos her fathers had taken during their vacations. She'd suddenly found herself sitting on the couch, reliving moments from her childhood and her normally happy attitude gave way to an intensive bout of crying.

When Puck got home from work, she was sitting on the couch under her favorite purple, fuzzy throw in a pair of her ugliest pajamas, a box of Kleenex on her belly, and tears on her cheeks. As he walked through the door, she hit "pause" on the remote and smiled at him sadly.

"Babe?" He tried not to be too alarmed because she was, after all, 24 weeks pregnant and usually had two huge moods – sad and horny - but still, this particular crying jag just _felt_ different. Walking over to the couch, he sat down and pulled her into his arms. He pressed his lips to her forehead, hugged her, and asked, "What's wrong?" into her hair. As he did so, he glanced at the television and realized that she was watching old family videos. _That explains it. _

Rachel turned toward the screen, her eyes settling on the tall African-American man frozen in time with a grin on his face and a small Rachel in his arms. "I miss Daddy."

Puck hugged her tighter, not sure what to say. Every year, on the anniversary of his death, Rachel would get understandably emotional. She and her surviving father would convene on the phone and talk about the one who'd left them and then there would be crying, laughing, and remembering. After she hung up, she always wanted Puck to hold her until she fell asleep, much like he'd done in the days after her father's death. The instances were becoming more frequent, though, as the due date of the baby drew closer.

"I know it's been years since he died... but it still seems like yesterday and I still remember how he fought the cancer _so hard _and how much he believed in me. And I still remember when we went home for his funeral...and how you held me and were my rock and how I don't know how I made it through without you. But now, we're about to become parents and...." she sniffled, a tear sliding down her cheek that Puck quickly brushed away with his thumb..."and he won't be there. He'll never meet his granddaughter."

She let out a small sob. Puck didn't really know what to do, feeling helpless that he couldn't take away his wife's pain. Instead, he just rocked her in his strong arms until she calmed down again. When she met his eyes, she smiled. "I'm sorry, Noah. I know this crying stuff has to drive you crazy."

Puck kissed her quickly and said, "It's okay, babe. I know it comes with the territory. And I know it's hard for you to think about him and that you miss him. But your Dad will be here for the birth, you know he's already booked the flight. So if he's here, it's like your Daddy will be here, too, because his memory is still alive in the both of you. And you'll keep it alive because you'll tell our daughter all abut her grandpa."

Rachel nodded, knowing he was right. Slumping from the weight of her emotions, she leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, breathing in his comforting scent.

Puck kissed her again and asked, "So no more tears, right?"

"Right," she said softly.

"Cool." He helped her off his lap and then stood up himself. "Let's go to Applebee's, babe, I'm starved and they've got new crap on the menu. Saw it on a commercial when I was watching SportsCenter."

Taking his hand, she smiled as her stomach growled. _Applebee's sounds delicious!_

* * *

A few days later, Rachel was in much better spirits when Puck got home from work. She kissed him hotly when he walked in so he knew he was getting lucky later. Once he'd changed out of his uniform and into a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt, he spread his work out on the table and tried to focus on that while Rachel finished up dinner, singing softly while she worked.

He was busy concentrating on a file when her voice broke the near-silence of the house. "Noah, what do you think about parenting classes?"

Puck looked up from the paperwork long enough to screw his face into a frown. "Parenting classes?"

Rachel stood up and walked over to him, dropping a pamphlet from the hospital in front of him. He flipped through it, his eyes perusing over words like "breastfeeding" and "vaginal birth", before he shuddered and tossed it on the table, crossing his arms. "Fuck, babe, what do we need parenting classes for? We're going to be fucking _awesome_ parents. Those people can't teach us shit!"

Tapping her foot, Rachel crossed her own arms. "Noah Puckerman, first of all, you're going to have to learn to clean up your mouth _very _soon. I've tolerated your swearing for all these years because...well...it's part of who you are. _However, _you're about to become Daddy to a little girl and I _do not _need the aforementioned little girl tossing her bottle at me and telling me she needs some more "fucking" milk when she is two years old!"

Puck's face registered shock before he burst out laughing. Rachel _never _swore. Despite his penchant for excessive swearing, she'd just never picked it up. Listening to her swear, even the slightest bit, always turned him on.

Rachel slid her hands to her hips, glaring at him while he laughed until his face was red, and then continued. "I _do _hope you would find parenting classes to be beneficial. I know you helped with your sister but that was twenty years and I have never changed a diaper in my life. I have no idea what I'm in for. So--nevermind." Shooting daggers at him, she reached for the pamphlet. "I'm registering us for this class. _You _don't have a choice."

Puck watched her storm away, appreciating the view of her retreating behind. Fuck, he _needed _parenting classes. He wanted to be a badass, awesome dad. When Rachel stormed back into the kitchen and furrowed her brow at him through the breezeway, he sighed and stood up. Time to go apologize and act excited about taking classes...at 8am...on a fucking _Saturday._

He snagged the pamphlet from her hands again and opened it back up. "You're going to be breastfeeding, Rach?"

Rachel pulled a lasagna out of the oven and set it on the counter top. "That's the plan, Noah, why?"

Puck's eyes slid to her already-fuller bust line. "I think I could appreciate that."

"Baby, I will be providing vital sustenance to our daughter. You won't want to ogle me when I'm feeding her, I'm sure!" With a disgusted look on her face, she added, "You're always so...sexual."

Puck grunted, walking up behind her to rub against her, letting her feel his arousal through the thin material of his pants. She shuddered as his hands slid around to cup her breasts. "Babe, they're tits. And they're _your _tits, which are my favorite fucking ones on the planet. I'm going to like to watch, so deal with it."

He spun her around in his arms and sat her up on the counter top, pulling open her shirt to bite her nipples through her bra. Rachel groaned when he stepped away, tossing the lasagna back in the over to keep it warm. When he slid back over to her, his hands disappeared under her skirt and she forgot all about how difficult he had been over those parenting classes.

* * *

Rachel was sitting on the couch, flipping through a nursery furniture catalog for design ideas, when the phone rang. Recognizing the number, she smiled when she answered.

"Hey, T. What's up?"

On the other end of the phone, Tina sounded excited. "Have you got today's mail yet?"

"I'm sure it's here by now. Noah always gets it when he comes home. Why?"

"Go get the mail, Rachel! Now!"

The urgency in Tina's voice propelled Rachel off the couch. Barefoot, she walked down the paved driveway to the mailbox. When she opened the box and pulled out the stack of mail, her eyes fell to a red and white post card with the logo of William McKinley High School emblazoned across it. Flipping it over, Rachel read into the phone, "You are cordially invited to attend the WMHS Homecoming on Saturday, October 7th, at 7:30pm. As a former student of William Schuester, your presence is requested as he is honored for receiving the Ohio Teacher of the Year award. Please join us for a reception in the gym before the game."

"Are you going?" Tina screeched excitedly.

Rachel stopped walking and thought for a moment. "Well, I'll be..." she calculated in her head, "...I'll be 28 weeks pregnant then so I should be fine to travel. I don't know, T... Are you going?"

"Of course!" she exclaimed into the phone. "I haven't seen Kurt in two years and the rest of them in even longer. Rachel Puckerman, you're going to Lima with me!"

Rachel laughed into the phone. "Well let me talk to Noah tonight and I'll call you back. It would be fun to see everyone again." Her hand slid down the swell of her belly and she cupped her stomach. "I haven't seen anyone in nearly a decade. I lost touch with Kurt years ago and you know that Noah doesn't talk to anyone in Lima."

"You're going," Tina ordered again for clarification.

"Okay, okay...let me talk to Noah!"

A few hours later, when a very tired Puck walked into the house and kicked off his shoes, Rachel was shoving the post card into his hands. Puck's eyes skimmed over the glossy card with interest and then he lifted his head and met Rachel's gaze, a gleam in his eyes.

"You know we're going, right?"

Rachel bounced up and down and threw her arms around his neck. He swept her into a hug, kissed her heavily, and swatted her on the ass when he sat her down. "Go call your Dad. Tell him we're staying with him. We stayed with my mom last time and dammit, we just _saw_ that woman. If I share space with her again too soon, she may wake up dead."

Rachel squealed happily at the prospect of sleeping in her childhood bed and called her father before calling Tina. Once tentative plans were made with Nick and Tina for the four of them to fly to Ohio together, Rachel and Puck sat down to dinner.

"You know," Rachel said as she dipped a piece of her bread in a dab of olive oil, "it will be great to see everyone again. I mean, Brittany, Santana, Artie...I wonder what they've been up to all these years?"

Puck chewed his food. "You know they're gonna shit when they find out we're married, right?"

Rachel grinned happily, her eyes twinkling. "I know. And in four more weeks, this little one will really be poking out by then."

Puck leaned back in his hair, chuckling. "Oh shit, babe, they're going to have a fucking _conniption_ when they find out about us." He thought for a moment and then added, "I wonder if Finn will punch me."

Rachel gaped. "Why would he punch you?"

"Because you were _his _girl. He always screwed up and then lost you to Chang but he spent the rest of high school regretting how bad he messed things up. He used to whine to me about how he fucked it all up. Fuck, Rachel, you think he's _not _gonna be shocked when he finds out that _I'm_ your husband? The dude who knocked up his girlfriend and whored his way through high school?"

Rachel groaned. "But that's not you anymore, Noah. You're the man who went to college and got his act together. You're the man I fell in love with..."

Puck groused. "Yeah, and I almost fucked that up, too. Shit, Rach. Some days, I still think you're crazy for loving me as much as you do."

Rachel stood up, walked over to him, and sat down on his lap. She kissed the tip of his nose and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Noah, I've always been crazy...it's one of the characteristics that you love about me."

He chuckled, nodding his head in complete agreement. Then his eyes settled on hers and he stared into her brown depths. Pushing her hair out of her face, he tilted her head and kissed her. "I'm not going to question how fucking lucky I am that you not only loved me in the first place but forgave me after I screwed up and _then _married me and _now _you're having my baby. Shit, babe... I'm just gonna count my fuckin' blessings, take your hot ass back to Lima, and show everybody that Noah Puckerman is one goddamn lucky bastard because he's got Rachel Berry _Puckerman _by his side."

Puck placed a hand on Rachel's stomach and looked down for a moment. Glancing back up, he scooted her off his lap and ordered her to go feed his daughter. Rachel sat back down at her own plate and smiled as she watched him eat. No, the Noah Puckerman that existed in Lima was just a kid who made lots of mistakes. _Wait until they see Noah Puckerman, the man. _


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N1: **Glee Live was _amazing_! To see photos (and I got some seriously awesome ones including some FANTASTIC Mark shots because he was _so close_), please check out my profile and follow the link there.

**A/N2: **I've been nominated for quite a few awards over at the LiveJournal 2010 Glee Awards. Now is the process of "seconding," which will move me on to the next round. If you like my stuff and would like to second me, please go to (with spaces removed) (community. livejournal. com/gleeawards /3431. html )and follow the instructions.

**A/N3: **Come join us for chat about our favorite McKinley badass at the Puck Yeah! Boards! Go here, again with spaces removed: (z6. invision. com / puckyeah / index. php?)

* * *

Puck circled the crowded parking lot, his eyes scanning the sea of vehicles for an empty space. Next to him, Rachel chewed on her lower lip, her eyes also searching. From the back seat, Tina and Nick talked quietly until suddenly, Tina shouted, "There's one!"

"Where?" Puck called out, his head whipping back and forth as he frantically searched for an open space in middle of the rows and rows of bumpers.

"To the left! To the left!" Tina shouted rapidly, pointing towards the empty space in a back corner of the large lot.

Spying it, Puck gunned the pedal of the rental sedan and veered into the space, a satisfied smirk on his face as he beat another car. "Fucking homecoming," he muttered under his breath as he shut the car off.

The four piled out and Rachel stared up at the huge "William McKinley High School" sign that loomed above them. Tina stepped up to her and said, "Can you believe we're back here again?"

Rachel shook her head. "Not at all. It feels like forever ago that we were here."

Puck walked around to Rachel, sliding his hand along her back until his long fingers gripped her hip and tugged her close to him. His other hand went protectively in front of her 28-weeks-pregnant belly as they maneuvered through the thick crowd toward the school.

"Hey, T, where are we headed first?" Rachel called behind her as they stepped onto the sidewalk that ran around the edge of the school.

"First is the reception for Mr. Schue and then the actual game, so we gotta head to the gym."

Puck held the door open for the other three in the group and then put his arm around Rachel again as he guided her through the crowded halls toward the gym.

When they stepped inside, they stopped short at the sea of people. "Damn," Puck muttered. "I know that everybody always loved Mr. Schue but it's like the mall at Christmastime in this fucking place."

Rachel gripped Puck's hand tightly, her nerves jittery at the idea of seeing her former WMHS classmates after so long, especially when she felt like a beached whale. Tina stepped up and nudged her and the two friends gave each other a quick one-armed hug in reassurance. Then Tina looped her arm through Rachel's and said, "Puck, I'm taking your wife and we're going to go find some people we actually recognize. We'll meet up later!"

Puck quickly dropped a kiss on Rachel's cheek and then Tina dragged her away as she blew Nick a kiss. Puck and Nick just rolled their eyes and then surveyed the crowd.

Tina guided Rachel through the crowd. "I'm looking for familiar faces…seriously, who _are _all these people?" They spied Mr. Schuester over by the podium but he was surrounded by people all clamoring to say a few words. Looking both ways, they stared off into a throng of unfamiliar faces of various ages.

"Tina? Rachel?" a voice called behind them.

Turning around, both women's eyes settled on none other than Mercedes Jones. Other than a short hairstyle, she looked nearly the same.

"Mercedes? Oh my god!" Tina squeaked before running to hug Mercedes. Rachel held back and watched the two embrace. When they parted, Mercedes' eyes traveled over Rachel's body and settled on her stomach.

"It's great to see you, Rachel. When are you due?" she asked pleasantly, her eyes lifting to meet Rachel's.

Her hand on her belly, Rachel smiled and said, "December 23rd. It's coming up so fast but I think Noah and I are ready. Well, we haven't even started on the nursery but other than that…"

Mercedes' mouth dropped open and Tina stifled a giggle. Rachel looked at Mercedes with questioning eyes. _Here we go. _

"Noah? Your husband, I assume?" The hesitation in Mercedes' voice nearly made Rachel burst out with laughter.

Rachel nodded happily. "Yes, married for well over four years now…"

"Is it…I mean…" Mercedes looked helplessly at Tina and finally Tina laughed loudly.

"Yes, Mercedes," Tina offered. "Rachel's husband is none other than Noah Puckerman."

Rachel smiled brightly at the black woman, her hand sliding over her belly possessively.

"Holy…_wow_," Mercedes breathed, her eyes unblinking and staring at Rachel. She took a moment to recover and then, stepping forward, she took Rachel's hand and said, "Girl, we need to find a seat and talk because I _gotta _find out how you turned Puck into a marrying man!"

Rachel laughed, this reaction expected but hilarious nonetheless, and allowed herself to be pulled away.

Across the room, Puck and Nick were surveying the crowd when Puck's eyes fell on a _very _familiar face.

"Oh shit. Fuck. _Shit_. Dammit. Shit," Puck groaned, his voice low and irritated. "Fuckin' bitchy whore of an ex-girlfriend, five o'clock."

Nick's head swiveled and his eyes settled appreciatively on the curves of the approaching woman. "Fuck, dude…"

"I don't believe my fucking eyes!" the woman said as she stepped through the crowd, her eyes sweeping up and down Puck as if he were a billboard. "Puck? "

Puck nodded, his jaw tense because meeting _her _wasn't on his list of "to-dos" while in Lima. "Santana. Long time no see. How the hell are you?"

Santana Lopez, dressed in dark jeans and a tight-fitting blue top, smiled genuinely at her former boyfriend/paramour/fuck buddy. "Life's been great, Puck. Living in Lima, still…but I own a business and keep myself busy."

Puck shoved his hands in his pockets and asked, "Oh yeah? What do you do?"

"I'm a CPA, actually."

_Santana Lopez…a CPA? _

Puck seemed momentarily stunned and Santana laughed, playfully hitting his arm. "What? People _do _grow up, you know. I mean, I bet _you've_ even matured some_." _She rolled her eyes dramatically for effect. "What do you do?"

"I'm a physical therapist out in Seattle, actually."

"What the fuck are you doing out in Seattle? That's a long way from Ohio!"

"My wife and I live there. Have for a while now."

Santana seemed to falter for a moment, the word "wife" coming from Puck's mouth clearly a strike to her system, and then she prodded, "Wife? Where is she?" Her eyes shifted as she looked around, trying to spy the woman who managed to tie down her ex-boyfriend.

Puck looked around and spotted Rachel sitting at a table with Mercedes a few feet away.

Pointing, he said, "She's right over there with Mercedes."

Santana turned and looked and her mouth dropped open before she turned and glared back at Puck.

"Rachel Berry?" Her voice was laced with shock. "Seriously? You're married to _Rachel Berry_?"

"Rachel Puckerman, actually," Puck corrected testily before walking away.

Stepping up to the table, he dropped a hand on Rachel's shoulder and her hand slipped up and settled over his. Mercedes watched the exchange with interest.

"Hey, Puck…Congratulations on the baby!" Mercedes said, standing up to walk over and hug him. Puck pulled her into a hug and then when they parted, Mercedes shook her head. "I don't mean to be shocked but it's just…_damn__!_ I never expected for you and Rachel to be together…but I think it's wonderful!"

Rachel stood and Puck wrapped his arm around her waist. As he did, Santana walked up next to Mercedes and the two women embraced. Then, Santana looked at Rachel and Puck's breath hitched as he wondered if he was going to have to remind Santana of what he _still _thought of her. But when Santana spoke, Puck's mouth gaped because she was...she was..._nice? _ "Rachel, congratulations on the baby! First babies are so exciting. I remember when Alicia was born and it was just the most magical time."

Puck's brow furrowed because the entire exchange with Santana was honestly freaking him _the fuck _out. "Alicia?"

Santana nodded. "My oldest child…she's five. We also have a 3-year-old son named Lucas."

Rachel grinned, happy to be having the most pleasant conversation with Santana that she'd ever experienced. "How long have you been married?"

"I got married right out of college. I met Ben in school and never looked back."

Just then, a voice carried through the crowd. "Yo, Puckerman!"

Both Rachel and Puck whipped around and suddenly, Puck was doing a complicated handshakes and one-armed bro-hugs with Mike Chang and Matt Rutherford. Mike talked animatedly and Puck smiled and laughed before Matt interjected. Rachel watched as Mike and Matt began to bicker and Santana rolled her eyes. "They never change. Always best friends, don't see each other for a while…and as soon as you get them back together, they both have to one-up each other constantly."

Rachel watched as Puck spoke and then Matt and Mike's eyes both jerked over to her in surprise. She waggled her fingers at them and they were suddenly on her, both hugging her while Mike poked a finger into her belly.

"So you break up with me to go to college and then get yourself married to and knocked up by Puck? Did I…did I like…" Mike struggled with his words, finally looking at Rachel curiously. "Did life without me screw with your head or something?"

Rachel let out a deep belly laugh as Puck's fingers gripped the shoulder of his old friend. "Watch it, man. I actually came in and cleaned up the mess _you _did on _her."_

"Okay, boys," Rachel interjected. "No displaying of male egos needed here." She turned to Mike and looked him in the eye. "You didn't do any sort of number on me. I just happened to meet up with Noah in college and we fell in love. That's all. It's very simple."

Matt interrupted after watching the exchange between Mike and Rachel. "I can't believe you're having Puckerman's kid. I thought you were smart, Rachel!"

She hugged him again and said, "I'm brilliant. That's _why _I'm having his baby!"

Santana rolled her eyes Mercedes groaned loudly. "People in love make me sick."

Rachel looked at her, eyes slightly dark and irritated, and Mercedes waved a hand at her. "I'm sorry, I just got dumped after three years of a relationship…I'm kinda bitter at the moment!"

The group of old friends talked excitedly for a while, catching up, and then Rachel shifted uncomfortably. Pushing up on her toes, she whispered in Puck's ear that she was going to the restroom and then she disappeared through the crowd.

When she was finished, she washed and dried her hands and then stepped out of the restroom, where she ran head-first into a large form. Lifting her eyes, she was shocked to meet the gaze of Finn Hudson, who was staring at her with a curious face.

"Rachel?" His eyes settled on her pregnant stomach.

"Hello, Finn. How are you?" Rachel looked up at him with a smile plastered on his face.

"I—I'm well. You?"

"Doing wonderfully! Presently not working due to the pregnancy and the fact that no one wants to watch a very pregnant woman pretend to be Sandy from "Grease" but that's okay because it gives us time to properly prepare for the arrival of her in December." Rachel knew she was rambling and slowed herself down but the way Finn's eyes were boring into her stomach unnerved her.

"So…do you live around here?" Finn asked after a few seconds of silence.

"No," Rachel said. "We live in Seattle."

"Is…is you're husband here?" Finn's eyes shifted as he looked around for the man responsible for Rachel's present condition.

"He sure is," a voice said from behind her. Rachel turned and watched as Puck approached, stepping up to her and sliding his arm around her waist, pulling her back against his chest possessively. Finn stood slack-jawed before his eyes widened.

"Wait, what?" Finn's eyes darted from Rachel's pregnant belly to the arm wrapped securely around her waist. Finally, his eyes shot up and met the scowl set on Puck's stony face. _"You're _married to Rachel? What...the fuck? How did _that_ happen?"

Puck and Rachel both glanced at each other, let out nervous laughs, and said in unison, "L_ooooo_ng story."

They shared a silent exchange before Rachel, who was gripping Puck's hand tightly, said, "Finn, the group of old Glee clubbers is forming right over there." She pointed a few feet away. "Would you like to join us?"

Finn stared at the floor before looking up at Rachel and giving her a forced smile. "Uh…sure."

Puck and Rachel walked toward the group with Finn in tow. As they approached, Puck leaned down and whispered in his wife's ear, "I think Finn is freaked out. I _told _you he always had a thing for you. He's probably going to bust my ass later."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Noah, it's been a decade since Finn and I have had any interaction. I'm _sure _he's okay with our being together."

Puck shot a glance behind him at Finn and then leaned back in to whisper, "I wouldn't be so sure. Dude looks _pissed._"

When they arrived back at the group, Rachel was surprised to see that Kurt had joined them and was in the middle of telling a story. "Yeah, Rachel and I lost touch a few years ago but before that, I used to talk to her a lot when she and Puck were in the middle of their "are we or aren't we" phase…but then he went and got engaged to this girl who looked _just _like Rachel except that she had bigger boobs and a smaller nose and she was apparently _way _more annoying and then some _stuff _happened between Puck and Rachel..." Kurt waggled his eyebrows suggestively and the crowd around him grinned. "...and Rachel moved to Seattle to get away from Puck and his supposedly new wife but then Puck didn't get married and he found out where Rachel was because Tina blabbed and then Puck went ou—" Kurt stopped speaking when he saw Rachel and Puck standing there and reddened immediately.

"Uh…hey, Rach!" He waved happily, trying to ignore the fact that he'd just been giving the Cliff's Notes version of the Puckerman romance without their approval. Kurt pushed through the crowd and hugged Rachel before dropping down to touch her pregnant belly.

"Boy or girl, Rachel?"

"Girl," Puck answered for Rachel. Kurt stood up, waiting for Puck to berate him for airing their personal business but instead, Puck pulled him into a bear hug, leaving Kurt shocked and reddened again. When Kurt pulled away, he said, "so I was just saying…"

Puck snorted. "Yeah, Kurt…I heard what you were saying. And I'm sure our friends, most of which we haven't seen in at least a decade, have better things to talk about than how Rachel and I got together."

"No we don't!" Mike, Matt, Brittany, and Santana all said in unison before everyone laughed.

Artie, who had arrived while Rachel and Puck were talking to Finn, rolled forward in his chair and, with a sly smile on his face, said, "I don't know what's more shocking: One, that Puck isn't in prison or two, that he's married, or three, that he's married to _Rachel Berry!_"

"Or four," Mercedes interjected, "that he's married to Rachel _and _they're having a baby!"

"Hey guys!" A familiar voice called from behind them. The group of classmates all turned to see their former teacher, Will Schuester, standing there in one of his many vest and tie ensembles. He had a massive grin on his face and his eyes were taking in the scene of his favorite group of students in front of them.

"Hey, Mr. Schue," Finn said casually before stepping up to shake the teacher's hand.

One by one, the students said hello and caught up with their former teacher while Rachel and Puck stood back, letting the crowd thin. When everyone else had spoken, Rachel stepped forward and shyly said, "Hi, Mr. Schuester. Congratulations on your wonderful honor!"

She stretched her arms out and Will enveloped her in a hug and then pulled away, looking down at her pregnant form with a prideful smile.

"Rachel, you look amazing! How are you? When are you due?"

"December 23rd," Rachel answered.

"We're pretty excited," Puck offered, stepping forward to shake the teacher's hand. A strange look crossed Will's face for a split second before he pushed it away and gripped Puck's hand tightly.

"Noah Puckerman," Will began, "I would like to say that I'm surprised that you're here with Rachel but honestly...I saw the signs in high school."

"You did?" Rachel's eyes bugged and she and Puck shot each other quizzical looks. _How did he see if we didn't see it? _Rachel wondered.

Will tipped back his head and laughed. "Of course! 'Sweet Caroline', all that flirting, _all_ that arguing, Puck's willingness to come to your defense whenever possible...It was certainly always there."

"Yes, I saw it, too!" Kurt interjected.

"Whatever, Hummel. You were too busy lookin' at my Finn's to notice anything else," Puck bantered playfully.

Kurt scoffed for a moment before laughing. "Ya know what, Puck? Probably so. But my tastes, obviously, have improved since then."

Puck rolled his eyes and watched as Kurt rejoined a conversation with Mercedes and Santana.

"So Rachel," Will continued, "not on Broadway?"

Rachel shook her head. "No, actually I've been working with Seattle Musical Theatre for years. Now that I'm pregnant, I'm still giving voice lessons through their mentorship program but I'm sure I'll return to the stage after the baby's born."

Will looked pensive at Rachel's words. "Do you ever think about Broadway, Rachel? It was your dream."

Rachel gripped Puck's hand and sighed. "Do I? Of course I do. Not that I don't love the musical theater but...it's not Broadway and Seattle certainly isn't New York City."

"It's never too late, Rachel. Especially someone with your caliber of talent and I'm sure you've only improved with time."

"She's awesome, Mr. Schue," Puck interjected.

"I don't doubt that, Puck, at all." Will stared appreciatively at his former students, taking in the sight before him. Finally, he cleared his throat. "I guess I better get moving. Lots of people to see. But it's wonderful to see you both! I'm so proud of the people you've become."

"Thanks, Mr. Schue," Rachel said softly as she reached to hug her former teacher again.

The couple watched him retreat and then Brittany approached Rachel. Puck watched the clock and realized that the game was about to start and thankfully, this little reunion lovefest was about to draw to a close.

"Babe?" Puck interrupted Rachel's conversation with Brittany and placed his hand at the small of her back. "The game's about to start and we're supposed to meet Nick and Tina to get good seats."

"Oh, that's right, Noah." Rachel turned back to Brittany, clasping the blond's hand in her own. "It was so great seeing you, Brittany. Take care of yourself!"

"You too! And congratulations again on that baby!" Brittany waved to the couple and then headed off in the direction of the parking lot.

Rachel and Puck began wandering through the halls and then stepped back outside to head toward the football field. They had just stepped into the grass when they heard a hesitant, even tentative voice behind them.

"Puck?"

Turning toward the voice, Puck's eyes met the questioning eyes of Quinn Fabray. Her gaze drifted down to the way Puck's hand was curled protectively around Rachel's stomach as they made their way through the crowd and then she looked up and met Rachel's eyes.

"Hello, Quinn," Rachel addressed softly.

"Rachel." Quinn's curt response caused Puck to clench his jaw. _Seriously, Fabray? It's been a decade. You still hate Rachel?_

"How are you doing?" Rachel's voice was cheerful but Puck could tell from the tenseness of her back that she was none too pleased to see her former rival and high school nemesis.

"I'm fine," she answered quickly, her eyes gravitating back towards Rachel's pregnant belly. She opened her mouth as if to speak before closing it again. A confused looked crossed her face and finally she said, "So...you guys? That's..."

"Yes, us," Puck practically barked. Rachel slid her hand into his and gripped it tightly, sending him a silent signal to relax.

"What...what are you having?" Quinn met Puck's eyes and waited for an answer.

"A girl," Puck replied, his eyes meeting Quinn's stare head-on. Both of them immediately thought of their daughter, the baby girl they'd had when they were just young teenagers and had made a stupid mistake with far-reaching consequences. She was nearly 12 years old now, living somewhere in the world.

"When are you due?" Quinn's voice softened and she met Rachel's eyes, her lips slightly bending into a smile.

"Right around Christmas," Rachel answered, her body relaxing as she sensed Quinn's heavy wall starting to crumble.

The three former schoolmates all looked at one another for a few quiet seconds before Quinn finally said, "Well, congratulations, you two. I will admit to being surprised that the two of you are...that's you're..."

Rachel laughed quietly and said, "That's been the general consensus this evening. And that's okay. Everyone's been surprised but we expected it."

"It is a bit to digest, I'll admit. But anyway, its wonderful that you're both doing so well and..."

Quinn's voice trailed off as she looked around the crowd. Rachel could tell that was looking for an escape. Quinn's eyebrows ticked as she suddenly spotted someone in the distance and said, "Well...if you'll excuse me..."

"Sure," Puck said quickly. They watched Quinn disappear back into the crowd and then Puck visibly relaxed.

"Well, at least that wasn't fuckin' awkward or anything," he muttered sarcastically.

Rachel turned in his arms, stretching to plant a kiss on his lips. He wound his arms around her waist and tugged her belly against him.

"Noah, what did you expect? For one, that woman has hated me her entire life. She'll still hate me when we're 80-years-old and I'll never understand why. And I may have cared when I was 16 but I really don't care anymore. And two, it _has_ to be weird for her to hear about you having a baby with someone else. Especially a girl. And _especially _with me!"

Puck looked off in the distance toward the direction Quinn had gone. "Yeah? Well..." he looked down at Rachel and furrowed his brow. "Fuck her." Grabbing Rachel's hand, he pulled her along. "Let's go find Nick and Tina, watch this stupid game to see if we still suck as bad as we used to, and then get the hell outta here. I've had enough of McKinley for at least another decade."

As they met up with Nick and Tina, the two women linked arms and took seats in the bleachers. Rachel glanced around her old high school football field and sighed. Reunions were nice, sure. But the people that mattered most were sitting next to her. Life at McKinley High School ended a long time ago. Rachel couldn't wait to leave and get back to the present - to life in Seattle with Noah. After all, _that_ and the future were what mattered most.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note**: So I'm supposed to be working on the next chapter of "The Second of August" but my BWABS muse wouldn't shut up until I wrote this chapter. So I'll post this then get back to that other story! (This story is much easier to write due to its complete lack of angst!)

Oh, and three more chapters and this story will be finished!

* * *

"I am _so_ glad to be home," Rachel groaned as she pushed open the door to their house in Seattle. Puck followed her in, dropping their suitcases on the polished wood floor, before flipping on the lights. It was the evening after the homecoming at McKinley High School and they had taken a late night flight with Nick and Tina from Columbus back to Seattle.

Rachel wandered deeper into the house, kicked off her shoes, and flopped down in the overstuffed chair as she ran her hands over her belly. Puck took the suitcases upstairs to the bedroom then came back down, jealously eyeing his wife's comfortable position in the chair.

"Scooch over," he nudged her with his knee. Rachel slid over and Puck squeezed in next to her, throwing his head back against the cushions and closing his eyes.

"That was an exhausting trip," he groaned. After the homecoming game, she, Puck, Nick, and Tina had all gone out for pizza and had ended up running into Mercedes, Kurt, Matt, and Mike at Lima's only pizza joint. They'd ended up all sitting together where the attention shifted away from Puck and Rachel long enough for Tina and Nick to fill everyone in on their relationship and how they'd gotten together. Then Tina had mentioned the fact that she and Nick were getting married in just a few weeks and Kurt, who owned an interior-decorating firm in Atlanta, had _insisted _that he was flying to Seattle to help decorate the space for the wedding. Tina and he had argued for twenty minutes before Nick had thrown up his hands, put a hand over Tina's protesting mouth, and told Kurt when and where to be. Kurt had screeched happily, pulled out his phone, and began making airline arrangements. So despite the fact that he and Tina had lost touch in the years since college, he was renewing their friendship by designing her a "dream wedding."

Puck laughed as Rachel groused, "Tina's quiet, quaint wedding? With Kurt's help, it's going to be _insanity, _Noah. I'm sure it will be gorgeous and that's quite a gift to give an old friend but—" Rachel turned to look at Puck, "—but _I_ was helping with the wedding and now my feelings are hurt!"

Exasperated, Puck grabbed Rachel's hand. "When they get married, you're going to be around 32 weeks pregnant, really fucking uncomfortable, and probably a little testy. So now, with Kurt running the show, you and I can go to the wedding and relax." Puck kissed the top of Rachel's hand, brushing his lips over her knuckles. "And then I can dance with my hot-ass wife at the reception and bring her home and fuck her til she screams my name."

"Noah, must you continue to talk like a horny, 16-year-old, delinquent?" Rachel's brow furrowed but her smiled betrayed her true feelings.

"Whatever, babe, you know you like it." Puck stood up, offering a hand to Rachel to help her up. Once she was standing, his arm went around her waist and he said, "let's get to bed."

After they were changed and the house was quiet, Puck drew back the covers and slid into the bed next to Rachel in the darkness, letting out a contented sigh to be back in his own bed.

"Ya know, baby," he began, tucking his hands behind his head, "it was awesome to see everyone again, even if they were fuckin' annoying for the most part."

Rachel rolled on her side, tucking her hands beneath her cheek, and she looked at Puck in the dark. "It really was. It's so amazing to see how everyone's changed. I mean, Matt Rutherford is an architect? With a wife and _three _kids under the age of five?"

Puck laughed. "Yeah, and Mercedes is a teacher? With that attitude, I can just imagine that her students are terrified."

They were both quiet for a moment and then Puck said, "And _fuck_, Santana, a CPA? In what alternate universe are we living in that she _didn't _end up being a stripper?"

"Noah!" Rachel admonished. "That's terribly rude…" she hesitated but then added with a giggle, "…even if you are right! But in the same respect, I'm not shocked at all that Brittany owns a dance studio. She always was talented."

Puck shifted under the covers and rolled toward Rachel. "And Mike as a chef to the stars in LA? Artie working on his Ph.D. in geophysics? Seriously, Rach…who the hell _were _those people?"

Rachel let out a laugh. "It really is shocking to see how much people have changed."

"Did we find out what Finn was doing with his life?"

Rachel snorted. "Um, no. He didn't say much to me. I think he glared at my stomach a few times but he seemed very aloof. I don't get it, really. It's not like he _ever _made a move on me when he actually could in high school. And the few times we _tried _to date were a total disaster. For him to have attitude now? It's preposterous!"

"S'because you married me, Rach. I mean, sure…he and I patched things up in high school but our friendship was never the same. And he forgave me for all the Quinn bullshit but ya know…I think he felt like I'd stolen his girl _twice."_

Rachel rolled her eyes. "I wasn't 'his' girl for you to take, Noah. I hadn't seen him in years when I fell in love with you…"

"I know, Rach…but you know that you, me, him, and Quinn have one _hell _of a complicated history."

Rachel nodded in the darkness. "Yes, we do. Which is why I nearly had a heart attack when we ran into Quinn!"

Puck burst out laughing and he turned to meet Rachel's eyes in the dark. "I know, right? And just as I'd expected, she was a cold bitch."

"I don't know," Rachel argued. "I honestly can't blame her. It had to be a shock to her. To see us together? Married? Having a baby girl? Please, Noah, don't tell me that you _didn't _think about your daughter with her while we were standing there."

Puck thought for a moment. "I'm not gonna lie, Rach. My mind definitely went there. Hell, it goes there all the time anyway, especially since we found out that you were pregnant. But to see the woman I had a baby with when I was just a fuckin' _kid_ glaring at _my wife, _who's having my baby? Really fuckin' pissed me off."

Rachel shook her head. "She's never liked me, Noah. And the fact that we're together only intensifies things. And I gave up giving a damn about her opinion of me over a decade ago so I really don't care. She can live…wherever it is that she lives…and have animosity towards me but _I'm _moving on with my life. I've _already_ moved on with my life. I left that McKinley drama _at _McKinley. We're too old to worry about that nonsense anymore."

"Rach, I think she was always jealous of you." Puck reached out and pushed a lock of hair from Rachel's face. "I think she was threatened by you and your talent and your ability to attract Finn…and me… You were just a huge obstacle in her path and she felt the need to try to cut you down."

"Perhaps," Rachel said. "That's a very valid theory..." Rachel rolled toward Puck and then added, "but I don't want to talk about Quinn anymore…"

The couple laid in silence for a few moments with only the sound of their breathing between them before Puck spoke again. "Babe," he began as he tugged her against him under the blankets. "I saw the look on your face when Mr. Schue asked you about Broadway so I gotta know…do you still dream about it?"

Rachel sighed against him, her heart heavy over the topic. She'd been thinking of it frequently since Mr. Schuester had brought it up. But if there was one thing that helped their relationship work so well, it was their ability to be honest with each other at all times, so she spoke. "Yes, Noah, I do. I hadn't for a long time but now that I'm not acting, I think about it but then my mind is travelling and suddenly the stage I'm standing on is in New York City, not Seattle."

"You could still do it, you know," he prodded softly, his hands gliding over her skin as he gazed at her with a glint in his eye that Rachel knew only too well.

Scoffing, Rachel ran her hand over his thigh. "Hardly! I'm massively pregnant!"

Puck pushed Rachel up and tugged on her nightshirt, pulling it over her head and tossing it toward the dresser. "I didn't mean _now, _babe, obviously, but after the baby's born. If it's what you want, you should go for it."

Rachel allowed herself to be pushed back into the sheets as Puck pulled himself up and leaned over her, nipping her lips with his teeth. "Our lives are here in Seattle, Noah, your job—"

"—can be done _anywhere_, Rach." Puck slid his hands across her belly, gently caressing the ever-expanding flesh. "Face it, babe, we're only here because this is where you came when you had to get away and I followed. But you know what? We're together now. We're going to _be _together. You want Broadway?"

Rachel didn't answer him but instead, closed her eyes and threaded her hands through his hair as he dipped his head to swirl his tongue over her nipple and then tug at it with his teeth.

"Do you?" he asked again, his mouth creating heat against her skin as he spoke around her puckered peak.

"Yes, Noah," she breathed as her body instinctively arched toward him, "I do. I really would like to at least _try _and see if I could make it on Broadway."

Puck lifted his head from her breast and met her eyes as he guided his hand between her parted thighs. "The baby and I will follow you anywhere, Rach. You and this baby are my _life. _You want New York, the fuckin' Puckerman family will take New York by storm."

Rachel's heart clenched even as her body slicked with want for him. "I'll—I'll think about it, Noah," she moaned, her head pressed against his cheek.

"Just say the word, baby, and we're _gone_."

Rachel shuddered in his arms, her mind starting to go blank from the pleasure he was creating within her body. But before it did, she tucked his words away to contemplate later. She thought that her dreams for Broadway were dead but she should have known that, with Noah by her side, anything was possible.

* * *

When Rachel was 30 weeks pregnant, she woke Puck up in the middle of the night (again) to discuss designs for the nursery. Four hours later, he was dragging her out to the car.

"It's 8am, babe, the stores are open, and we're going to shop today. I'll paint the room tonight, the furniture will be delivered, the nursery will be ready, and you'll _stop _waking me up in a panic at 4-fucking-in-the-morning."

Puck made sure Rachel was inside the car and then closed the door, jogging around to his own side.

"I can't believe we've waited on a nursery this long," Rachel said as Puck backed Rachel's car out of the driveway and pulled out onto the street.

"No shit," Puck laughed. "I figured you'da had that done _months _ago. But what's so hard about a nursery for a baby girl? You buy some pink paint, white furniture, slap it all together, and you get an awesome nursery."

"I don't know," Rachel said as she stared out the window and watched the scenery fly by. "I'm not sure I want a typical nursery for a baby girl."

"Of-fucking-course," he groaned. "You would make this complicated, wouldn't you?"

Rachel rolled her head toward him and smiled brightly. "Would you love me any other way?"

Admitting defeat, Puck muttered, "No, probably not."

Three hours later, Rachel had ordered white furniture (that Puck observed was _very _typical of a nursery) with an ornate scroll design in the wood. The crib, changing table, armoire, and rocking chair would all be delivered mid-week. Next, they picked out a pretty but functional bassinet for the first few months when the baby would be sleeping nearby in their bedroom.

After lunch (where Puck watched Rachel scarf down three helpings of pasta salad with a smirk on his face), they ended up in the paint section of The Home Depot.

"How 'bout this color?" Puck pointed to a coral pink paint chip.

Rachel screwed up her face in disgust. "That looks like fairy vomit, Noah! What about this color?" Her finger rested on a pink shade that could only be described by Puck as "painful."

"Fuck, no, baby," Puck grumbled. "That's fucking god-awful. Kid'll move out as soon as she can walk if you subject her to that shit."

Puck and Rachel stared at the multitude of pink shades for a few more minutes and then Rachel asked, "How about this one?" She pointed at a soft, blush pink color and Puck cocked his head as he studied it. Honestly, it was actually kinda not pink _enough _for him and the room he had anticipated for his baby girl. He's expected Rachel to pick something _so _pink that he'd have to wear sunglasses every time he went in the nursery. But this color? Barely-there pink. _Inoffensive_. Didn't even threaten his manhood.

Puck grabbed the paint chip from the rack, shoved it into Rachel's hands, and announced, "Sold!"

While Rachel had the paint mixed, Puck picked out brushes, a pan, a roller, and painter's tape and then met Rachel back at the counter. She smiled happily, handed him the paint can, and the two headed for the checkout. Thousands of dollars and a painless afternoon together later, the nursery was underway.

* * *

A week before Tina's wedding and during Rachel's 31st week of pregnancy, the two women convened at the Puckerman house. Tina was wringing her hands together nervously as she stared at the menu for the reception. "I have to finalize everything with the caterers today, Rachel. I don't know what to feed all you people!"

Rachel rolled her eyes, huffing loudly, and pulled the menu from Tina's hands. "There's going to be like, what, a hundred people at the reception, max? Go with something _simple. _This is supposed to be_ your _day, Tina. You're supposed to enjoy it because I promise you that, years later, it's all going to be a huge blur. That's how it was for my wedding day, anyway. I remember the ceremony and the reception but the one thing I remember more than _anything else _was how happy I was to finally be marrying Noah." Rachel put her hand on Tina's arm and looked her friend in the eyes. "And I promise you, T, that years from now, the joy you had from joining your life to Nick's will be the biggest and most important thing that sticks in your mind about that day."

Tina's shoulders drooped and she leaned against Rachel. "I'm waving my hand over this menu. Whatever it lands on is what we're picking. I _have _to order the food _before _Kurt gets here in two days or Nick will end up spending five times as much on food. When I talked to him last night, he'd already practically insisted that the wedding cake prominently feature gold leaf. Rachel, we ordered the cake seven weeks ago and I assure you that there is no gold leaf anywhere in sight!"

Rachel rubbed the shoulders of her tense friend as she stifled a laugh. "You knew, T, when he offered his services free of charge that he would try to run the show."

Tina left the dining room and plodded into the living room, dropping to the floor and folding her legs beneath her. Rachel waddled in, glanced at the floor longingly, and then leaned back until she fell into the couch. Tina watched her with interest and then snickered.

"Shut up," Rachel barked. "I know I look like a moose."

"Oh, Rachel, you're gorgeous. And you're pregnant. So you can't sit on the floor anymore? Big deal! Soon, you'll be playing with that baby on this very floor."

Rachel rubbed her hands over her belly and smiled. "You're right, T. I can't wait. I'm _so _ready to have this baby."

Tina reclined, smiling up at her friend. "And Puck?"

"Oh, he loves my being pregnant. He's so happy that we never have to worry about birth control and that I'm _never _on my period. And don't get me started on his fascination with my breasts since they've gotten larger… He's perpetually 16."

Snorting, Tina nodded. "You knew he'd be this way."

"I know," Rachel sighed happily. "And I love it."

Groaning, Tina pushed herself up off the floor. "People in love make me sick."

"Tina!" Rachel admonished. "You're in love!"

Tina grabbed the menu and perused it quickly before answering. "Yes...but there's 'in love' and then there's 'we're having a baby in love' and _that, _my friend, is so sweet that it's nauseating."

Rachel grinned and then pushed herself up off the couch to join Tina. "Well? Did you decide?"

Nodding, Tina tossed the menu down on the table. "I think so. I'll call the caterer before I leave."

The two friends went into the kitchen and Rachel pulled out a container of grapes and started munching. "Is Kurt staying with you?"

Tina shot Rachel and incredulous look. "Are you serious? He told me that he _only _slept on Egyptian cotton. One I told him that my sheets were from Bed, Bath, & Beyond, he informed me that he and Edward would be staying at one of those little galleria/boutique/fancy-schmancy hotels downtown. We're meeting them for dinner when they get in… You and Puck should come!"

"I'll ask him. I'm sure that he'd… well, honestly, Noah will hate it but he'll go because I'll make him." Rachel popped a few more grapes into her mouth and then put the container back in the fridge. Wiping her hands, she turned toward her friend with a broad grin. "Well, T, we've got one week. Let's finalize all these details and then go shopping."

"For?" Tina asked.

"Who cares. I need to get out of the house."

Grinning, Rachel handed Tina the phone so that she could call the caterer. Tina smiled happily into the phone while she placed the menu order and Rachel thought back to how things had happened for them to end up where they all were now. She never would have imagined that her relationship with Noah and the move to Seattle would result in the upcoming wedding of Nick and Tina. Once again, the changes life brought continued to amaze her.

* * *

Next up: Nuptials and a healthy dose of Kurt.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note**: So originally, I thought that this was going to be Chapter 10 of 12. But I think that there may actually need to be 13 chapters instead of 12… I guess I'll see as I continue to write!

Also (shameless plug time), I would love it if you would head on over to the Glee Awards on LiveJournal and vote for me. I'm nominated as an author and several of my stories, including the precursor to this story, "All Roads Lead to You", have been nominated. The address is **[www .****community/ livejournal/ . com/ gleeawards / 4556. html]** (remove spaces) and THANKS! I'm excited and honored because I'm competing against some great authors who are also friends!

* * *

Puck was a third of the way through his bowl of Cheerios when he heard Rachel clomp down the stairs, muttering to herself and nearly out of breath. She stomped into the living room and stood at the edge of the couch, staring at him as he chewed and checked the latest news on ESPN.

"What are your plans for the day, Noah?" She asked, rooting through her massive purse for God-only-knew-what.

Puck looked up from the Honey Nut goodness in his bowl and said, "Well, right now, I'm eating these Cheerios and wondering why in the hell I continue to be loyal to the Seahawks when they continue to just break my heart and fuck me over. After that, I have to meet Kurt at Clise Mansion to let him in to decorate since I have the key and apparently, the best man is the fucking key holder. And _then, _I have meet Tina's and Nick's mothers to help them transport stuff over to the mansion so they can set up for the reception. And then I'm going to get my hair cut and after that, when it's time for the actual wedding, I may fucking pass out from exhaustion. You?" He plunked his spoon down in his bowl again, scooping a heap of the small-ringed cereal up into his mouth.

Rachel lowered herself down next to him on the couch, her 32-weeks-pregnant belly jutting awkwardly out in front of her. When she finally made it into the cushions, she dropped her hands down onto her belly and leaned back. "I'm meeting Tina for breakfast and then we're heading to the salon for massages, pampering, hair, and makeup. And then we'll head over to the mansion and get dressed there." She turned her head toward her husband, who was now tipping the bowl up to drink the remaining milk. "Noah, you're going to remember to bring my dress with you, right?"

Puck dropped the bowl and spoon onto the coffee table, ignoring the clatter of the dishes, and took Rachel's hand in his. "Babe, I got this. Your suit and my dress and the bags with shoes and all your sexy lacy shit are all ready to go. I'll take them with me and we'll meet up at the mansion. I can handle this, I promise."

Rachel flexed her head to kiss him sweetly before tucking her chin against his shoulder and closing her eyes. "Is it sad that it's 8:30 in the morning and I'm already exhausted?"

Puck laughed and gripped her knee with his hand. "Nah…it's just the baby. Just take it easy today and don't overdo yourself. I _do _wanna dance with you tonight and I can't do that if you're dead on your feet."

"Okay…I promise to take it easy. Besides, I'll probably nap during our massages and mudpacks today at the salon."

Rachel went to push herself and Puck stood up, helping her into an upright position again. When she was steadied on her feet again, he pulled her to him and kissed her, sliding his lips across her before dropping to kiss along her jawline. Rachel shivered and pushed him away. "Don't do that right now, Noah. You know how I react to that. And we _cannot _possibly have sex at this moment!"

Puck threw his hands up innocently, a smirk playing across his features. "Whatever, babe…just kissin' ya. Besides, don't you need to leave?"

Glancing over at the clock, Rachel let out a huff and quickly kissed his cheek. Grabbing her purse, she tossed it over her shoulder and headed toward the door. "Don't forget the stuff, Noah! And I love you!"

Puck watched her, rolling his eyes. "Dammit, woman, I won't! And I love you, too!"

When she was gone, Puck flopped back down on the couch and turned the volume up. He'd leave for the mansion in a few minutes. No sense in showing up on time…

* * *

"I can't believe it's this afternoon," Tina said wistfully as she and Rachel entered the salon. Breakfast was done and now they were on to a late-morning appointment for pampering and beautifying. The woman behind the counter motioned for the two to follow her and soon, they were led to a changing room. Once they were both in the salon robes, they took their places for the first thing on the list: pedicures.

Rachel closed her eyes and relaxed as her feet were scrubbed and massaged in water that smelled of lemon and sage and other oils.

"Are you nervous?" Rachel questioned.

"Nah," Tina answered automatically. "It's actually about freaking time, considering we've been together since the weekend that you and Puck got married. Nick sure took his damn time, that's for sure. But…he's worth it."

Rachel popped an eye to look at her friend, who was smiling so brightly that it nearly lit up the room. She reached across the open space to squeeze Tina's hand and said, "who knows, maybe by this time next year, you'll look like me!"

Tina snorted. "God, no! No offense, of course…but considering it took Nick this long to marry me, do you think he's in a hurry to have children? No way! Besides, I want us to be married for a few years before we have a baby."

"It is a good thing to do," Rachel advised. "I'm glad that Noah and I waited four years. We had so much time together, just the two of us, and it let us grow and get to know each other better."

Tina looked at Rachel incredulously. "Get to know each other better? Rachel, you've known him for most of your life. You've loved him for nearly half your life it seems!"

"You'd be surprised, Tina. You learn so much about a person once you're married to them." She thought for a moment and then shook her head. "Or maybe it's that you learn to read them so much better. It's hard to explain but…. It's amazing how much Noah and I have grown together in our years of marriage."

"Ya know, Rach," Tina said, her eyes finally closing as she began to relax, "it still shocks even me that you two got together. And if you hadn't, I'd probably still be living in Lima and I never would have met Nick and…"

"It's just funny the way things turn out?" Rachel offered.

"Absolutely," Tina agreed.

Rachel sighed contentedly. "And I wouldn't change any of it, not a single moment, for anything in the world. Everything in life happens for a reason and all those reasons brought us _here _today."

It was Tina's turn to reach across the space and grasp Rachel's hand. She squeezed it and then the two friends settled into the quiet, hands still clasped, their minds playing over life's adventures and how, without them, they both might be in very different places. _Leave it to weddings, _Rachel thought, _to make you think of the past._

* * *

As expected, Rachel slept through her massage and felt somewhat normal by the time she and Tina made it out to Clise Mansion. When she parked, Rachel smiled happily because Puck's truck was already parked. She leaned in and checked to make sure he hadn't left her dress in it and, pleased that his truck was empty, she and Tina headed inside. The rooms were bustling with caterers, mansion staff, and she could hear Puck and Nick talking from nearby.

"We're here!" Rachel announced.

"Don't come out, Nick! You can't see me before the ceremony!" Tina shrieked, picking up the pace to run to the room where she would get ready.

Nick's laughter wafted from the other room and then Puck sauntered out, clasping his strong arms around his wife. His eyes swept over her make-up and her curly up-do. Brushing his lips over hers, he whispered, "You look fuckin' hot already, baby. Can't wait to see ya in the dress."

Rachel blushed happily and kissed his cheek. "I'm going to go help Tina. Guests will start arriving in about 90 minutes." Looking around, she noticed that Kurt was nowhere to be seen. "And where's Kurt?"

Puck pulled back, eyes shifting from left to right, and then he said, "He should be back in a few. He had to run out and get something that he forgot, I think."

Rachel looked at Puck curiously because of the cautious way he'd spoken but then brushed it off. Ruffling her hand through his hair, she said, "I like your hair cut."

"Thanks, baby," he kissed her again and then slid away. "Gonna go see if Nick needs anything. See ya at the ceremony, babe."

The two parted and Rachel slipped into the bridal suite area and found Tina's mom henpecking her daughter. "Hello, Mrs. Cohen-Chang, Rachel said sweetly.

"Oh hello dear! My, you're looking beautiful as your pregnancy progresses! How much longer?"

Rachel rubbed her belly and said, "Well, I'm at 32 weeks and I've been told that I'll go into labor either early or late since it's my first child so I have absolutely no idea, really! We just want her healthy when she gets here!"

At that moment, Tina slapped her mother's hand from her hair. "Mom, I just paid an insane amount of money for this hairstyle. _Please _don't mess it up. I love it just like it is."

"Fine, fine," Mrs. Cohen-Chang acquiesced. "I'm going to go make sure the caterers are on task and the wedding cake is here. Kurt has everything decorated and it's gorgeous, honey. He did such an amazing job. I can't wait for you to see it!"

When Tina's mother exited the room, Tina's shoulders wilted. "Please, Rachel, don't let me kill her today."

Rachel rubbed her hand along Tina's shoulder blades in comfort. "She means well, Tina. Her daughter is getting married! Just remember, if you get blood on your dress, I won't have time to get it out before the ceremony."

Tina let out a laugh and then hugged Rachel quickly before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Okay, I can do this! Let's get dressed."

Just then, the door pushed open and both girls swiveled around to watch Kurt stride through.

"Hello, ladies, I'm here! Now, let me see the dress."

Tina beamed at her friend, shooting into the dressing room and returning with her flowing silver dress. Holding it high for Kurt to see, Rachel watched curiously as Kurt tapped his lips with his index finger. Finally, he turned to Tina. "I love it! I was worried but this? This is practically ethereal! Where did you find it?"

"Rachel spotted it, actually. She thought it would be perfect and she was so completely right," Tina offered.

Kurt turned on his heel, eyeing Rachel curiously. "Wow, Rachel. I guess time really does help. I mean, your fashion sense is affected right now, obviously, due to the fact that you're carrying the Spawn of Puckerman but this is an incredible find. Good eye!"

He turned back toward Tina and the dress and Rachel stared after him, unsure of whether she should be insulted or not.

"Now, Tina…I have Edward in with Nick and Puck to make sure they dress properly, put the cummerbunds on right, et cetera. He'll also make sure their ties are straight and that they are missing the overgrown jock appearance that they usually have when they step down that aisle."

Rachel glowered. "Kurt, first you've insulted me and now you're insulting my husband. I don't appreciate it!"

Kurt blew Rachel a kiss. "Oh, Rachel, relax. You know I love you and Puck and I think you're both so sickeningly sweet together that I want to toss up my espresso all over those hideous shoes of yours."

Rachel crossed her arms and glared harder. "If you make me cry and cause my makeup to run, I'll pluck your eyes out."

Tina snorted, watching her two old friends banter back and forth.

Kurt casually wandered over to Rachel, reaching out to pull her into a hug. "I'm sorry, Rach. I don't mean to pick. I just happen to pick my men for their looks, earnings potential, _and _sense of style."

Scoffing, Rachel wiggled out of his hug. "Are you saying I don't?"

"Oh, I'm not saying _that_, Rachel. But you have to admit that a lot of Puck's attraction is that rippling body of his and that face, specifically that jawline and those cheekbones…and he does have those eyes that when he looks at you, you can just imagine…." Kurt let his voice wander off and he winked at Tina, who was watching the exchange with silent amusement.

Rachel placed her hands on her hips, her bulging belly reducing the intensity of the defiance in her gaze. "You know what else attracted me to him, Kurt? His compassion, his huge heart, his sense of humor, his musical talent…" Rachel met Kurt's eyes. "_And _the fact that he's an amazing lover and is _exceptionally _well-endowed!"

Tina sputtered, her gum shooting from her mouth as she choked with laughter. Kurt's mouth dropped open before he, too, started laughing.

"Wow, Rachel…you tend to over-share while pregnant." Kurt snickered. "I think I like you this way. You're entertaining."

Rachel smiled sweetly and blew Kurt a kiss. Reverting back to her composed self, she asked, "Does anyone need anything to drink? I'm so thirsty."

Tina and Kurt watched Rachel flit from the room and then Kurt smiled. "After all these years, I still get immense pleasure from pissing her off. Will that _ever _stop?"

"No, Kurt, probably not. Because, face it, Rachel will _always _be Rachel."

* * *

At 3pm on that Saturday afternoon in early November, Puck watched as his pregnant wife sweep down the short aisle in a dark maroon dress, flowers in her hand, and low heels on her feet. Her hair was perfectly styled and the dress accentuated her breasts and flowed out, minimizing her baby bump and showing off those fantastic legs that he could stare at for days, even after all the years they'd been together. She looked gorgeous and he couldn't wait to get her _out _of that dress and get those legs wrapped around him later. Puck winked at her before she turned to take her place on the left side of the officiator and then the entire crowd turned their attention toward the door. As Tina made her way down the aisle on the arm of her father, Puck glanced at Nick out of the corner of his eye. After a few seconds, he reached out and tapped Nick on the back, forcing Nick to finally take a breath. He sheepishly grinned at his best man before turning his eyes back on his beautiful wife-to-be.

As the vows began, the loud sniffling coming from Nick's mother nearly had Rachel laughing in the middle of the ceremony. When the two said their "I dos", Rachel's eyes traveled across the aisle and her brown eyes locked with Puck's hazel eyes and held them as they both remembered their own vows. Puck gave her a nearly indiscernible smile and Rachel forced herself to bite her lip so that she didn't grin at him broadly. _I love that man, _she thought happily as she watched Nick slide the band down Tina's ring finger.

Minutes later, it was done. The crowd stood and clapped, Rachel hugged Tina and then Nick and Puck shook Nick's hand and kissed Tina's cheek. Then Puck clasped Rachel's hand in his own and they walked back down the aisle and out the back of the room to head over to the reception.

* * *

Puck's arms went around Rachel's waist, pulling her pregnant belly against his body.

Rachel blushed pink and swatted at his chest, embarrassed. "I'm getting so big, Noah. I know I just look horrible…and so awkward to dance with!"

Bending to kiss her, Puck pulled away again as they began swaying to the music. "You're fuckin' beautiful, babe. I love the dress… I'm glad you didn't let me see you in it before because I think it woulda taken away from the huge urge I have right now to rip it off you."

Rachel cocked her eyebrow at him in disbelief. "Really?"

Puck chuckled, bending down to inhale the scent of her hair. "No, probably not," he admitted.

Puck stared down into Rachel's eyes as they danced to the soft music and Rachel murmured, "This reminds me of our wedding day."

"Ya think?" Puck questioned, his eyes looking around. "Because I don't see Mrs. Bern-fucking-baum anywhere, telling everybody about how _she _got us together."

Rachel giggled at the memory and then let out a little "hmph." Leaning her head against Puck's shoulder, she closed her eyes. "I just remember being so worried that the weather would be horrible since we were marrying on the ferry or afraid that the caterers would get lost or that you'd change your mind…"

Puck scoffed. "Change my mind? After the shit we went through just to get together? " He was quiet for a moment and then dropped his head, his lips against her hair as he murmured, "But I _do _remember worrying, right up until you said 'I do,' that you'd wake up and realize that I wasn't worth it…that you didn't love me after all and that everything we'd gone through to be together wasn't enough."

"That was an absolutely insane thought of you to have, Noah," Rachel admonished.

"I know that, _now_, Rach. But that day? Scared off my ass…"

Rachel sighed, leaning her head against him again. "Is it too early to leave?"

Puck chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "Are you tired?"

Nodding, Rachel yawned. "Exhausted. I just want to go home."

Puck looked around and spotted Nick and Tina dancing a few feet away. Tina met Puck's eyes and mouthed, "Is she okay?"

Puck shook his head and mouthed, "She's really tired."

"Go home," Tina mouthed.

"Babe," Puck said. "We have Tina's permission to leave. C'mon." He hooked his arm around his waist and they went and hugged Nick and Tina goodbye. Kurt grabbed Rachel's arm and said, "I'll be over tomorrow, you two. And Puck, don't forget to show her!"

As they walked out into the evening light, Rachel asked, "show me what, Noah?"

Puck grinned, opening Rachel's car door so she could slide in. When he made sure she was buckled properly, he brushed his lips over hers softly and said, "You'll see when you get home. Be safe. See ya there."

He closed the door to her car and then jogged over to his truck. By the time he'd backed out of his space, Rachel was already long gone, her lead-foot meaning that he'd have to drive fast to catch up.

A while later, he pulled into the driveway behind her and hopped out just as she was unlocking the door. Puck followed her in and then yanked his tie off, tossing it over the back of a dining room chair.

"What are you supposed to show me, Noah?"

Puck grinned and took Rachel's hand, leading her up the stairs and into the nursery. He flipped on the light and Rachel looked around, trying to spot anything that looked new or out of place. Finally, she glared at Puck in frustration. He smiled and pulled open the closet door and Rachel gasped. Inside, there were what looked like dozens of outfits in all sizes and pastel, girly colors.

Rachel's mouth agape, she shot a questioning glance at Noah.

"They're from Kurt. He brought them by this afternoon. I gave him a key to the house so he could get in. He said that since he couldn't be here when she was born, he wanted to give us a gift now."

Rachel went to the closet, sliding her hands over the clothes and pulling out a purple jumper and then a pink ballerina dress. "Oh, Noah…there must be at least a hundred outfits here…"

Puck nodded. "I know. He insisted on it…"

Rachel felt tears forming and she let them fall. "This is so wonderful of him."

Puck hugged Rachel to him and they stared in silence at the closet full of clothes that in just a few months time, their daughter would wear. "He'll be by tomorrow. We can thank him then." Nudging Rachel away from the closet, he pushed her down the hall and into the bedroom.

"Let's get you to bed, baby." Puck slowly unzipped Rachel's dress, helping her to step out of it. While he put it on a hanger and back in her closet for safe-keeping, she slid out of her pantyhose and bra and then reclined on the bed in her panties, sighing when her back hit the cool sheets.

Puck quickly took his suit off and joined Rachel in just his boxers. He draped his arm over her belly and kissed her shoulder. "You okay?"

Rachel nodded, her eyes closed. "Just so tired. I can honestly say that I think I'm _ready _to have this baby. I know I have a while to go but I'm just so tired of being _so_ tired all the time. I'm used to having unending energy and now? I'm useless!"

Puck rolled over on his knees and crawled up into the bed. Tapping Rachel on the forehead, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "C'mon, babe…we can't sleep with you hangin' off the bed like that."

With her body protesting, Rachel crawled under the blankets with him and sunk into the blankets. When Puck flipped off the lights and Rachel curled into his body, he whispered, "Good night."

Rachel's eyes opened again. "I thought I was going to get ravaged tonight, Noah?"

"D'you wanna? Or do you wanna sleep? I mean, I can be ready in, like…four seconds…if you wanna but I think you're too tired."

Rachel reached up and kissed his cheek. "I love you, Noah, but I would really like to sleep right now, honestly."

Puck chuckled and pressed her against the blankets, rolling over to lean over her and kiss her passionately. His hand slid up and cupped her breast, his fingers brushing over her nipple. "Sleep, babe. I'll wake you up in the morning and you'll make it up to me then, okay?"

Laughing into his mouth, Rachel kissed him again and nodded. Before Puck could even roll away from her, she was already asleep.

* * *

**Next up: The birth gets closer and closer.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note**: Two more chapters after this one. And for those of you also reading "The 2nd of August," I should have an updated posted this week. The chapter is finally starting to cooperate. I got sidetracked writing a bunch of one-shots after my WIP muses apparently went on vacation but they are back now and are finally playing again!

* * *

By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, Rachel's pregnancy was at 35 weeks and her normally bubbly mood was starting falter. She felt like an Orca whale and every time Puck told her that she was beautiful and sexy, she'd laugh in his face before crying for a full thirty minutes because she was convinced that he was blatantly lying.

She was just done wiping away tears again when Puck poked his head back into the bedroom and spied her sitting on the edge of the bed in her bra and panties.

"Babe? Is it safe?" He asked with a nervous smile.

"Yes, Noah. I'm sorry I overreacted again. I just feel _so _ugly and I'm nearly positive that I'll never get my figure back. And the baby is pressing on my lungs and I can barely sing. I can't do anything without your help because I'm practically top heavy and I'm just…just…" she started to sniffle again, "…I'm just so useless!"

Puck quickly advanced to her side and sat down, his hand sliding around her waist to settle on the side of her bulging belly.

"C'mon, Rach, you know this is temporary. A few weeks from now, this awesome little baby is gonna be born and you're gonna forget all about the time you left the house in two different shoes or how many Fudge Rounds you ate in a single sitting or how we practically have to defy the laws of gravity just to have sex. We're about to have the most kick-ass baby in the history of babies and she's going to be so awesome, she's gonna make all the other new parents pissed 'cause their new kids suck… Think about _that…_not about all that other shit!"

Rachel looked up into Puck's hazel eyes and felt herself being soothed by the love and concern she found there. She dropped her head against her shoulder and looped her fingers through his. "You're right, you know," she said softly. "Our baby is going to be incredible."

"And she's going to be worth all of this," Puck reminded her, his lips against her hair. "The first time her awesome hazel eyes look up at you, you're gonna forget about all that you had to do to get there."

Rachel nodded her head, knowing that, in this case, he was speaking from past experience. "Our baby's eyes are going to be brown, though," she teasingly corrected him.

"Nah…I can tell she's gonna be exactly like me. It's just a hunch." He nudged Rachel on the arm and stood up, helping to pull her up and then tugged him against her (off-center because otherwise, it was just too awkward.) His hands slid down and cupped her behind and he said, "Look, we gotta get to Nick and Tina's. I've already called my mom to tell her Happy Thanksgiving and you can call your dad on the way over. Now get dressed because time's tickin' and the game's gonna start." He swatted her playfully, kissed her lips, and headed out of the room to finish getting ready.

Rachel threw on a maternity dress, pulled her hair in a ponytail, and looked at herself in the mirror. "This is as good as it's gonna get," she sighed at her own reflection. But, as usual in this case, her husband was right. Dropping her hands to cup her belly, she knew that this baby would be _totally _worth it.

* * *

"Well, that was two hours of my life I'll never get back," Puck muttered as he laid boxes and bags in the trunk of Rachel's car. Rachel waddled out after him, her belly at 36 weeks jutting so far in front of her that she had only a vague recollection of what he feet looked like in shoes.

"Noah, that was a baby shower for us thrown by _your coworkers. _Could you stop being an ass for maybe the next five minutes, please?" Rachel barked. Her hands slid to her back and she massaged the sore spots, groaning as some of the tension eased out of them. Puck turned back toward his wife and instantly felt guilty for bitching. But seriously, spending a Saturday at a restaurant while his co-workers showered him with gifts after he'd told them no less than four dozen times that a baby shower was not necessary had grated on his nerves. Sure, they were leaving with some pretty sweet stuff and Rachel had been overwhelmed with gratitude but he'd completely missed out on a basketball game at the gym and now Rachel was tired and cranky.

Puck helped Rachel into the car, deciding he'd shut his mouth when he got home and assemble the baby swing instead of bitching. For the last week, Rachel's mood had gone from wavering back and forth between happy and sad to just plain foul. Puck knew she was getting uncomfortable in her own skin as the baby continued to grow and change her small body. He tried to stay out of her way, get her everything she needed at the exact moment she that needed it, and keep his mouth shut the rest of the time but had still found himself on the receiving end of more than one long-winded, big-worded lecture. After he'd squeezed the toothpaste from the middle of the tube yesterday, she'd screeched for twenty minutes about his disregard for basic creature comforts or some shit (he's not sure. He stopped listening 44 seconds into the 20 minute lecture.) And at this stage of her pregnancy, sex wasn't even a cure anymore. Back when she wasn't quite so large and miserable, he could shut her up with sex, easily. But now, she was getting so big and uncomfortable that her desire for sex had dwindled considerably and she felt too frustrated to even try. Still, he wouldn't complain (because he didn't want to die at the hands of his tiny but extremely strong and angry wife.)

When they got home, Puck unloaded the car quickly, taking the items upstairs to the nursery. Rachel waddled into the room and handed him a bottle of water.

"I'm taking a nap. I'm exhausted," she said as she yawned.

Puck kissed her quickly and went back to removing the parts of the baby swing from the box.

"When I get up, I'm going to reorganize the linen closets completely. Things need to be put away by color, not by size or type. My linen closets cannot be that disorganized when she comes because otherwise, we'll probably never have the time to properly organize them again. It's unacceptable."

Frustrated, Puck looked up from the instructions. The fucking things were in Chinese and French and after turning them around, over and over again, he was still unable to discover the English ones. "Color-coded linen closets? Is that really something we need to be worrying about at this stage of the game?"

Rachel scowled and Puck threw up his hands. "Okay, okay. Sounds perfect, babe. Absolutely brilliant, actually. Dunno why I didn't think of that myself. You get some rest and then work on that! I support that shit _wholeheartedly_."

Rachel just glared harder, her gaze practically cutting through his skull. "You don't need to patronize me, Noah. I don't expect you to understand the likes of color-coding and organization when you just take your clean underwear and toss them into the drawer unfolded and wrinkled. And I'm going to go take my nap."

Spinning ungracefully on her heel, Rachel stomped down the hall and into the bedroom where she closed the door with a loud slam. Puck just chuckled and looked back down at the French assembly instructions. He studied the booklet for a few seconds more and swore he heard Rachel huffing from the bedroom.

Standing up, Puck tossed the instructions on top the pieces of the swing and jogged down the hall. When he pushed open the door, Rachel was throwing her clothes off and muttering to herself.

"Babe?" he asked hesitantly.

"What?" she snapped, jerking the covers back so that she could crawl under them.

"D'you…do you need like a back massage or something?"

Rachel's anger seemed to deflate and her body wilted as she nodded. "Actually, my legs could use a massage."

Puck walked into the bedroom and helped Rachel climb into the bed. Then he sat down on the edge and took her calf into his hands, his long fingers smoothing and kneading at the tense muscles he found there. Rachel groaned appreciatively and put her hand across her forehead.

"I'm sorry I got testy, Noah. I really don't mean to. You've been wonderful and I just lash out. It's like the words just fly out of my mouth and I don't even realize that they are until I've already bitten your head off."

Puck chose to keep his mouth shut and instead chuckled as he rocked his fingers into her thigh muscle. Rachel jerked from the feeling and groaned loudly. "Do that again, please?" she begged. Smirking, he ran his hands up her legs before kneading into her thighs again. Rachel's body seemed to react and she shivered, her legs vibrating in his hands. She seemed much more relaxed than she had been all day and he had himself to thank. With a twinkle in his eye, Puck slid up her body, hooking his fingers in the waistband of her panties and pulled them down her legs. Rachel lifted herself up on her elbows and looked down her belly at him, her eyes full of questions because sex was _so _not happening. He just winked at her, pushed her thighs open, and dropped his head between them. Rachel fell back against the pillows, arched her body into his face, and said dramatically, "This is the best massage _ever._"

Puck laughed as he peppered her thighs with kisses and then went to work, sliding his fingers and then his tongue along her slit. He'd get Rachel out of her bad mood yet.

* * *

On a cold Saturday morning, Rachel found herself searching the house for Puck. He wasn't in any of his normal spots and the television was off (and when ESPN wasn't blaring through the house, things didn't seem normal.) Finally, she peeked outside and spotted him bundled up against the chill, leaning against his truck. She pulled her own coat on and stepped outside.

"Noah?" She asked as she stepped outside. He looked up from his spot and gave her a half-smile.

"Hey, babe."

"What's wrong? Why are you out here? It's freezing."

Puck sighed, a pathetic look crossing his face. "Just saying goodbye to my baby before we leave."

Rachel bit her lip to stifle a giggle and walked across the yard. Taking Puck's hand in hers, she pushed herself against him and kissed his mouth. When she pulled away, she patted his cheek and met his eyes. "It's going to be okay."

"Is it?" he asked. "I've had this truck for years. She's like…she's part of me! And now I'm giving her up to drive around in some four-door, yuppy sedan like a douche…"

"To be a responsible father who wants his daughter to be safe, right?" Rachel prodded.

Puck sighed miserably, kicking a stray stone lying on their paved driveway. "I guess…"

"No, you _know_," Rachel corrected.

"It's just…I've _always _had a truck. For as long as I've been driving, I've had a truck. I'm going to look ridiculous climbing out of a pussy little girly sedan." Puck jutted out his lower lip and glanced at his wife out of the corner of his eye. "My manhood is being threatened here, baby."

Rachel groaned. "Noah, grow up. You're being positively ridiculous. We need a new car because we both have to be able to transport the baby. This rattletrap isn't safe anymore. You've had it since _college_! And you can't put a baby seat in the front of a truck so it's going." Meeting his eyes, she added, "end of discussion!"

Puck watched her stomp back toward the house. Calling behind her, she said, "I'm getting my purse and then we're going to the dealership. This hunk of junk is leaving today. You've got two more minutes to say your goodbyes!"

...

Later that afternoon, the Puckermans were back in their driveway but this time, they were staring at their new vehicle. Puck was beaming, his arm wrapped around his wife to shield her from the cold.

"This thing is awesome! Thanks, babe. I can't believe you said yes to it."

Rachel stared at the deep blue behemoth sitting in their driveway. "Well, it met all of my safety requirements _and _it was the only thing you'd even look at for longer than a second and a half at the dealership. I, personally, loved that cute little green sedan with the spoiler. But since I'm not completely difficult and I do have a heart and understand your somewhat questionable need to display your manliness through your vehicle choice, I gave my blessing."

Puck ran his hand along the side of his brand new, four-door pick-up truck. "A backseat for the baby and still a bitchin' truck. Seriously, this thing kicks the _ass_ of my old truck."

"It's not environmentally responsible in the least, Noah," Rachel reminded him.

"Yeah, but it's huge and the baby will be really safe….right?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Sure, play the baby card. Just remember that my car is the primary family vehicle now. The least we can do is limit the amount that we drive this irresponsible thing. The Puckerman family will not be singly responsible for destroying the environment."

Puck popped the passenger door open and motioned for Rachel to get in. "Irresponsible, maybe, but also _totally fucking awesome._ Climb in. We're going to dinner."

Rachel took his hand and pulled herself up into the seat. "Applebee's, please?" she requested.

Puck grunted because he was so fucking sick and tired of that place. Thanks to his knocked-up wife, he had gone from obsessively loving that place to being nearly revolted at the thought. He could _never _eat there again and it would still be too soon. But the adorable daughter growing inside his moody wife had apparently inherited his tastes so off to Applebee's it was.

* * *

Rachel peered out the window, watching each car as it meandered past their house. Puck was in the living room, tossing popcorn in his mouth while he watched some old movie that he'd first seen as a kid.

"Any sign of him yet?" he called, his eyes never leaving the screen.

Rachel chewed her lip thoughtfully. Her father had called an hour before to let her know that his plane had landed and that he was on the way to their house. It was December 15th and Rachel was due in just eight days. Her father had made plans months ago to be in Seattle when his granddaughter was born and _finally, _that time was drawing near.

"Nothing yet. But who knows how long he had to wait for his baggage." Rachel left the window and wandered into the kitchen to check the status of dinner. Everything was ready now so she turned it all to warm and then stared at her husband, her hand on her belly. He looked up at her and asked, "What?"

"Oh, nothing…just thinking about how it seems like we just found out that I was pregnant and now, she's almost here."

Puck sat his near-empty popcorn bowl on the coffee table and stood up. Joining his wife in the kitchen, he kissed her forehead and put his hand over hers on her stomach.

"I know. Time has flown by. I'm starting to get nervous, too," he admitted.

"Nervous, why?"

Puck shrugged, pushing his hands in his pockets and leaning back against the cabinets. "I know this is my second time going through a pregnancy and a birth but this will be my first time being a dad. And I wanna be an awesome dad, ya know? I wanna be the kind of dad that makes my daughter brag to all her friends. Fuck, I wanna be the kind of father that they write songs about."

Rachel walked over to him and slid her arm across his stomach, tucking herself awkwardly against him. "But you will be, Noah. The fact that you _want _to be means you will be. We're going to have one lucky little girl."

Puck pressed his forehead against Rachel and they stood there quietly, both lost in thought. They jumped apart, though, when they heard a knock on the door. Rachel met Puck's eyes and then squealed, dashing toward the door. Jerking it open, she launched into her father's arms.

"Hey, babygirl," Fred Berry said into his daughter's hair.

"Hi, Dad! I'm so glad you're here!" She pulled her father inside while Puck grabbed Fred's bags from the porch. He took them up to the guest room and when he came back down, Rachel was rambling to her father about baby preparations. Puck silently shook Fred's hand and they shared a grin as Rachel rattled on.

"Dad, I hope you're hungry. I cooked enough to feed an army but that's really okay because Noah can take the leftovers to work with him. Plus we can eat them tomorrow, too, if we don't run out for lunch or anything. I'm sure you may have some shopping you need to do or something. Just let me know and we can organize a schedule for your visit."

Fred threw back his head and laughed before putting his arm around Rachel's shoulder and hugging her tightly. "Rachel, relax. You're about to pop. I can entertain myself while I'm here, I promise. Besides, I'm here so I can meet my granddaughter anyway."

Rachel nodded, clearly defeated, and pulled the food from the oven.

"But before we eat," Fred said, "I'd like for Noah to take me outside and show me that new truck of his. That is one beautiful vehicle!"

Puck beamed as he pulled his keys from his pocket. "C'mon, man… I'll show ya. It's _so fucking sweet_ inside."

Rolling her eyes, Rachel watched the men in her life disappear out the door. "Soon, baby girl," she told her belly, "we won't be out-numbered anymore."

* * *

**Next up**: Baby Puckerman arrives!


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:** I apologize for the delay in updating but I got distracted by writing a million other things. And I want to thank everyone who voted for me and for "All Roads Lead to You" during the Glee Awards over on LiveJournal. It's a **HUGE** honor for me that the story won for Best Completed Fiction and I really, really, really appreciate all of you readers, whether you're a regular commenter or a lurker. I thank you all so much!

Anyway, on to the story!

* * *

When Puck got home on Friday evening, he was greeted to the smell of cinnamon when he walked in. Surveying the house, he noticed three new candles glowing on the fireplace mantle and a spotless room. Rachel has obviously been nesting again. Grinning to himself, Puck slipped his shoes off, hung his coat up (in the closet and not draped over the back of the couch because he'd done that two days before and had experienced an onslaught of Rachel-wrath that he'd secretly vowed to never see again) and headed into the dining room where Rachel and Fred were sitting at the table, mugs in their hands, talking quietly.

Walking up to his wife, Puck bent over her, placed a splayed hand on belly and asked, "And how's our girl doing today? Any sign that she's ready to come out and play?"

Rachel sagged back against his abdomen and shook her head. "No. _Nothing_. We're three days from the due date and I literally feel like my skin is starting to split. If she doesn't come early, I'm afraid I may lose it."

Fred looked sympathetically toward his daughter. "You kids want to go out for dinner tonight? I'll gladly buy. I know you don't feel like cooking and I'm not going to pretend that I even want to attempt to eat anything Noah cooks."

Puck scoffed playfully. "Hey, I'm a good cook but…if it's okay with you, we can just order pizza or something. Rach looks really tired."

Rachel nodded her head against Puck's stomach and he bent down to hug her tightly, his hands locking high on her belly below her breasts. He kissed her temple and let her go to go find the phone. After he'd ordered pizzas and breadsticks, he walked back into the dining room.

"Noah…I'm going to go lie down. Will you wake me up when dinner gets here?"

Puck agreed and helped Rachel push herself out of the chair and struggle to her feet. Both her father and her husband watched her waddle out of the room before Puck flopped down in a hard chair next to Fred and took a sip of the tea left in Rachel's mug.

"Poor baby," Fred sighed. "She looks so miserable."

"I know," Puck agreed. "And I can't do anything to help her. I _hate_ it. I know she's ready to go into labor. I just hope the baby comes in the next day or two because Rachel may snap and kill us both if this pregnancy lasts 'til the due date."

Fred took a sip of his tea and then laughed. "She told me today that she's been researching natural methods to induce labor. Don't be surprised if she springs a few on you tonight."

Puck chuckled. "Noted. I'm surprised it's taken her this long." Puck made a face into the mug and then looked up at Fred. "You want some coffee or something? This shit is weak."

Fred nodded and Puck headed into the kitchen to make the coffee. Fred wandered in after him and leaned against the counters, his arms crossed as he faced his son-in law. "Noah, I don't tell you enough…well, I don't tell you _ever _really, but you're so good to her. You do well with her. You really do. We both love her but we both know, quite well, I might add, how crazy she can get. I've never seen such a patient husband. I'm proud of you, son."

Puck cheeks reddened but he smiled. "Well, that's _my_ kid making her miserable. The least I can do is try _not _to be an asshole, even if she is being crazy. But I'm signed up for life so whatever she lobs at me, I'm gonna take."

"And I'm sure she makes you crazy, too."

"Every single day. And honestly, I wouldn't change it for the world. She just has ideas and ideals that will never be changed…and I'm not about to try. Hell, they're what makes Rachel _Rachel._"

Fred threw back his head and laughed. "She's certainly unique. And she's going to be a great mother."

Puck's mind drifted to his wife, hopefully now sound asleep upstairs. "She is. She's going to be amazing. She's amazing at everything she does and motherhood will be _no _different. I just hope I don't fuck up the kid too bad."

Slapping Puck on the back, Fred removed the pot of just-brewed coffee and poured himself some into his mug. Passing to pot to Puck, he took a sip and then looked seriously at his son-in-law. "Look, Noah, I know how your father wasn't around and about the baby you gave up for adoption at 16. But you've proven, over and over again, that you're a solid, upstanding man. A little rough around the edges, of course," Fred chided with a smile, "but caring and loyal and dedicated and _excited _about this baby. You'll probably inevitably teach her to swear and Rachel will be livid but she'll get over it. But as for "fucking" her up, as you say, no way, not gonna happen."

Puck took a deep breath. A full-on endorsement by his father-in-law, who he knew was an incredible father himself, went a long way to soothe his pre-birth jitters. Sipping the bitter black liquid in his cup, Puck nodded and glanced at Fred sheepishly. "Thanks, man…that means a lot."

Fred nodded and took another drink. "No problem." Glancing up at the door, he looked back over at Puck. "Now where the hell is that pizza?"

Later that night, when the last light in the house was out, Puck climbed the stairs and joined Rachel in the bedroom. She was sitting on the side of the bed, running a brush through her long hair. Puck watched her set the brush down and twist her hair into a ponytail for sleeping.

"Noah, we need to have rough, downright dirty sex tonight," she stated matter-of-factly.

Puck smirked and leaned against the bathroom door. "We do?"

Rachel shook her head. "Yes, I've read that sex close to the due date may help to induce labor. And I know I haven't felt much like it lately but I'm willing to look past my discomfort if it helps get this child _out of me. _So go get out of your clothes then get over here and…" she looked up at Puck through her lashes, "…and don't be gentle about it."

Puck snorted and quickly undressed. When he climbed into the bed, he pulled Rachel against his chest and flicked open the three buttons at the top of her totally _unsexy_ flannel maternity nightgown, sliding his hands inside to cup her swollen breasts. With his mouth near her ear, he breathed, "I won't be too rough, no. I'm not going to hurt you and the baby. But a little rough, for the sake of speeding up the labor? I got that." Rachel leaned against his chest, a small shudder running through her, and closed her eyes. When Puck pulled her nightgown over her head and pushed her back on the bed to run his lips over her body, she thought, _please work, please work, please work. This baby needs to be born!_

* * *

But it didn't work. Five days passed and the baby was now officially late. Puck was enjoying a surge of late-term pregnancy sex as Rachel insisted they continue in the hopes that at least _one _of her orgasms would push her into labor. Puck, never one to complain _or _turn down sex, was happy to comply.

When Puck walked through the door after the first workday back post Christmas shut-down, he was greeted with the sight of Rachel running up and down the stairs. As he took off his coat, he looked at Fred. "What's she doing?"

Fred rolled his eyes. "She read that going up and down steps may help induce labor. She's being doing it for an hour already. I'm scared as hell she's gonna tumble down the steps. She's so top-heavy."

Puck went and stood at the bottom of the steps and when Rachel reached the last step, he snagged her wrist. "Babe…_stop_. It's not helping. And you look exhausted!"

Rachel stared into his eyes and Puck watched her tear up. "I know," she sighed as tears slipped down her cheeks. "I'm just so tired. She's three days late. She's _never _coming. I'm going to be one of those medical oddities that stays pregnant forever. We'll have her first birthday while she's still in utero."

Laughing, Puck pulled Rachel against him and ran his hands along her back. "She's gonna come anytime now, baby, I promise. Now go relax. I'm fixing dinner."

Nodding sadly, Rachel stomped into the living room and collapsed onto the couch. Fred eyed Puck from across the room and they shared a silent look, both hoping the baby came soon before Rachel cracked.

* * *

On the 29th of December, Puck was at the grocery store picking up what he needed to fix dinner when Rachel called.

Puck jerked the phone to his ear. "Are you in labor?" he asked hopefully.

"No," Rachel said dejectedly. "And do you know that my doctor is obviously some kind of evil masochist? I called her just now and asked her about a C-section or labor inducement and she told me to just relax and let it happen naturally. What kind of doctor _is_ she? I'm beginning to think that her degrees are forged because, clearly, that's the single most imbecilic idea that I've ever had the displeasure of hearing and I've heard _a lot_ of stupid ideas in my time."

Puck sighed and leaned against the handle of his cart. "I'm sorry, babe. Maybe she'll come tomorrow?"

Rachel groaned. "She's never coming."

"Now, Rach…she is, too. Calm down."

Rachel exhaled loudly and Puck nearly laughed at her dramatic nature. But he knew laughing, at this stage in the game, would be a death wish so he kept his mouth shut. "Okay, Noah," Rachel breathed into the phone seconds later, "get back to shopping. But…can you get me some of those Chunky Chips Ahoy cookies?"

"Sure," Puck agreed, making a mental note.

"And a jar of marshmallow fluff," Rachel added.

"No problem," Puck answered automatically.

"And a bunch of string cheese?"

Puck grinned into the phone. "Anything else?"

"Umm," Rachel thought for a moment. "Nope…just grab a Twix bar on the way out and I think I'll be fine."

Grunting, Puck hung up the phone and sighed. This baby was _never _coming.

* * *

December 30th was Puck's last workday for the year. He'd expected to already be off on family medical leave but since the baby was obviously clinging on for dear life inside Rachel's uterus, Puck kept working to save his days. He didn't want to burn any leave or vacation until there was a third Puckerman to worry over. When he left for work that morning, snow was gently falling. The office was closing at 2pm for the New Year's holiday so he had a short day.

When Puck walked in, he was greeted with a chorus of, "still no baby?" questions. Puck sighed exasperatedly and nodded. "She won't leave, everybody! It's like she's refusing!"

"Well, think of it this way," one of his co-workers offered, "if she holds on for another day a half, you all can have the first baby born for the new year and get in the newspaper!"

Puck groaned. "If the baby isn't born until _next year_, Rachel's gonna freakin' lose it." Thinking for a moment, he grinned. "But if the baby is born then, don't we get a bunch of free stuff? Because that would be really awesome."

...

At 1:30pm, when Puck was finishing up paperwork and getting things updated in the computer system, his phone buzzed. Noticing that it was his home number, he sucked in a breath as he answered.

"Noah? She's in labor. I'm taking her to the hospital. Meet us there!" Fred announced into the phone.

"Got it! See you there! And be careful!" Puck quickly hung up the phone and grabbed his coat. Zipping out the door, he barreled into the lobby and told the receptionist, "Rachel's in labor. On the way to the hospital. See you next year!" And then he ran out into the snow, needing to get to his wife and his daughter as soon as possible.

Puck nearly lost his cool on the drive across town to the hospital closest to their home. Thanks to the snow, plows were out and traffic was snarled or at a standstill nearly everywhere. By the time he parked his truck and rushed into the big grey building, he was nearly trembling with stress and rage. But as darted into the ER, he shook the snow from his coat and composed himself before advancing on the ER desk. "Puckerman, Rachel Puckerman. My wife was brought in. She's in labor."

The woman behind the desk looked sympathetically at the shaken man in front of her and quickly glanced down at her computer. "Yes, she's upstairs in maternity. Go back down the hallway to the elevators. Go to the 2nd floor and take a left. It's right there."

Puck slapped the desk with a quick and jovial thanks and then was off. He thumbed the "up" button nearly 20 times before the elevator opened and he launched himself inside. The trip up one floor too, in his estimation, nearly forever and when the doors finally opened, he almost mowed over an old lady with a walker standing in his way. With a quick, "oops, sorry," he veered around the small woman and sprinted down the hall. He spied Fred as soon as he entered the area.

"Fred!" he announced. "Where is she?"

Fred put a reassuring hand on Puck's shoulder. "They just took her back. They said for you to hit the call bell when you get here and they'll get you back there."

"Great!" Puck glanced around and then pulled his phone out. "Do you mind calling Nick and Tina? I think they may want to be here? And also call my mom?"

Fred took the phone from Puck's outstretched hand. "Absolutely. Now get back there to my daughter!"

Puck flashed him a grin and then spun on his heel. He hit the buzzer, identified himself in the small speaker above the button, and then the doors opened and Fred watched him practically run down the hall. Chuckling, Fred thumbed down to "Collins" in Puck's address book and called Nick and Tina.

A nurse met Puck and took him to get his hands washed and put him in a hospital covering. Once he looked acceptably sterile, the nurse guided him into Rachel's birthing suite off the main hall. Rachel was sitting there in her hospital bed, a look of pain on her face, when he walked in.

"Sorry it took me so long, baby," Puck gushed. "Traffic is horrible and the snow is coming down and...shit…are you in a lot of pain?"

Puck watched Rachel grit her teeth and then close her eyes, breathing rhythmically. When she opened her eyes again a minute or two later, she gave him a watery smile. "Only in pain when a contraction hits."

"How far apart are they?"

Rachel sighed. "Too far. Still about seven minutes apart." Looking down at the blanket over her lap, she folded it neatly and crisply and then looked up at her husband. "Can I have a kiss?"

"Oh! Sure!" Puck bent and kissed her softly. "Sorry…I'm kinda freakin' the fuck out right now."

Rachel laughed. "It's going to be okay. We've been waiting on this. In hopefully just a few hours, she'll be here. I can't wait to meet her! And that was officially your _last _swear word because we're about to become parents and there will be _no _swearing around our daughter."

Puck rolled his eyes but didn't refute her statement. Instead, he nodded as his mind drifted to a painful and messy birth over a decade before…and to the little girl that he _didn't _get to keep. Pulling himself back to the present, he glanced down at the very large bump of his wife's stomach and placed his hand there. He could feel movement and the realization that in just a few hours he would be a real daddy hit him forcefully. Looking at the concerned eyes of his wife, he kissed her on the forehead. "I'm ready to meet her, too, Rach. And she's coming in time to be able to watch the Super Bowl with me this year."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Our daughter will be _far _too girly to ever enjoy sports with you. She'll probably want to be watching _The Sound of Music _or _Music Man_ with me, instead."

Puck chuckled and shook his head. "We'll see."

When another contraction hit Rachel a few minutes later, Puck offered her his hand and she proceeded to practically squeeze the blood from his fingers. His wife had some incredible strength in that compact body of hers, he silently observed. After the contraction passed, Rachel let go of his hand and Puck turned away from her, shaking his hand hard as he forced the blood back into his fingers. When he turned back, Rachel was watching him apologetically. "Sorry," she offered.

"Nah," Puck brushed it off. "S'all good. I don't expect to come out of this thing unscathed. Hell, it was a pleasure makin' her so I gotta expect a little pain in return."

Rachel laughed and snagged his shirt, pulling him down to kiss him. "When I'm swearing at you later and promising to cut your balls off, just remember that I love you, okay?"

Puck pressed a kiss to her lips. "Got it….but you'll never do that."

...

"Noah Puckerman, if you ever come near me with that _thing _again, I will make sure you suffer. I will remove your balls from you body, one by one, and shove them up your nose. Got it?" Rachel barked. The contractions were now only two minutes apart and the pain was so incredible that Rachel had already sworn off sex for the rest of her life. Puck new she was talking out of pain and refused to have a panic attack at her edicts, because she seriously wasn't done with sex forever, right? The assisting nurse smiled, patted his hand, and whispered, "I've heard worse, don't you worry. At least your wife doesn't swear like a sailor. We've had some that are just downright vile."

Puck snorted and then looked back at Rachel. He pushed her sweaty hair from her face and let his hand rest on her cheek. "Just a little while longer, babe…she's almost here."

...

"You better pay attention and take all this in, Puckerman, because this is your first and your _last_ baby. I will _never _endure such pain again." The words flew from Rachel's mouth and her doctor shot him a sympathetic grin. Puck just nodded and shut his mouth. The contractions were nearly a minute apart now and the doctor had just announced that the next phase of birth was about to begin.

_The next phase? _Puck thought. _Shit. How many fucking phases are there? _

Focusing attention on his red-faced, sweating wife, Puck smiled sweetly and encouraged her to stay strong. Looking up at at the clock, he realized that it was just after midnight. So they'd have a New Year's Eve baby and not a New Year's one. _Oh well...we didn't need to be in the newspaper anyway. _

...

"She's crowning!" the doctor announced. Puck skirted around Rachel's leg and bent down to look and unlike the teenager that had once been so grossed out that he'd silently swore himself to celibacy, he nearly yelled out loud in happiness when he saw a head with a cap of dark hair slowly becoming visible. He lifted his head and grabbed Rachel's hand, squeezing it. "I see her, babe…I see her!"

Rachel smiled and then pushed again as instructed, falling back once the push was done. Her face was red and she was sweating, her eyes red and pained. Puck quickly went back to her side and ran a cold, wet cloth over her face, before squeezing her hand to help her through another push.

"Just a few more, Rachel," her doctor instructed. "Her shoulders are out, Rachel. Just a few more pushes!"

Rachel's shoulders drooped and she looked up at Puck. "I have no more energy, Noah," she cried.

"Yes you do, Rach. We're _so_ close."

"Three more good pushes," her doctor called from between her legs. "All I need is three more, Rachel."

Rachel nodded, took a deep breath, and grabbed Puck's hand. He pressed his lips to her forehead and whispered, "you can do it," as she pushed hard and then fell back again.

Her doctor was right, two more pushes and the doctor announced, "she's out!" Puck watched as they lifted the slime-covered baby so they both could see her. They offered the forceps for him to clip the umbilical cord but he declined, his eyes on his daughter. Seconds later, she was screaming and Puck nearly fell back from the sound. Smiling through wet eyes, he kissed Rachel right as the nurse brought them their daughter. Laying her on Rachel's stomach, the nurse stepped back and away. Rachel and Puck stared down at their daughter, who looked around before blinking twice and then closed her eyes.

"She's beautiful," Puck whispered, his voice heavy with emotion.

"She looks just like you," Rachel observed happily, her finger stroking across the baby's cheek.

"I don't see it," Puck said. He couldn't tear his eyes from the tiny, small little girl already asleep on her mother's breast.

"Hi, baby girl. I'm your mommy," Rachel said soothingly. "I can't wait to take you home and introduce you to all the amazing things that there are to see in life." Looking away from the baby, Rachel lifted her head met Puck's eyes. "Thank you for her," she said softly.

Puck, who refused to cry like a pussy, bent his head and kissed Rachel hard, closing his eyes tightly as he did. When he opened them, he ignored the cold sensation of wetness at the corner of his eyes again and looked down at his daughter and his wife.

"Thank _you_, babe…you did all the hard work."

Rachel laughed softly as she ran her hand down their daughter's arm and lifted it to look at her tiny fingers and miniscule fingernails. "That's true, I did."

"So, Rachel…what's the verdict? We've discussed about 150 acceptable names. What are we calling her?"

"Oh…" Rachel glanced quickly up at him. "Is it stupid that I want to go back to the very first name you ever suggested?"

Puck arched an eyebrow? "Really? That's always been my favorite."

Rachel shook her head. "Yes…let's go with that. And I get to pick her middle name."

Puck slid his open palm gently across the baby's forehead. "Hey, Megan…I'm your dad."

"Hold her, Noah." Rachel picked Megan up and gently placed her in the arms of her wide-eyed husband. She watched as his gaze softened and he ran a long finger across the top of her head and over her nose.

"You're right, Rach. She does look like me! She has my nose," Puck said softly, his voice awe-filled.

"I know," Rachel agreed, leaning back and closing her eyes. She was _so _tired. As much as she wanted to stare at her daughter forever, she was completely exhausted.

"What's middle name do you want, Rach?" Puck questioned, his eyes never leaving the small lips of the baby asleep in his arms.

"Umm," Rachel sighed, her head rolling toward him. "You won't let me pick 'Elphaba' will you?"

Puck snorted with laughter and then quickly quieted down. "Hell no, our daughter will not be named Megan Elphaba Puckerman. She hears that, she'll wanna crawl back in."

Rachel smiled, her facial muscles going slack. "Marie? I love that name."

Puck glanced down at his daughter. "Megan Marie Puckerman?" Looking back up at Rachel, he beamed. "It's perfect." Glancing back down at the baby, he said softly, "Megan Marie Puckerman. I love it..."

A tap on the shoulder pulled Puck out of his haze. "Mr. Puckerman?" the nurse asked from behind him. "We're going to get your wife stitched up and give the baby a thorough bath. If you want, you can go announce to those waiting and in about a half an hour, everyone can come back to see her and Rachel."

Puck nodded and, although it pained him, he passed his daughter over to the nurse. Turning back to Rachel, he kissed her on the side of her mouth and said, "See ya soon, babe."

Rachel nodded, her eyes still closed, and Puck left the room.

When he stepped into the waiting room, Fred, Nick, and Tina were all sitting quietly. They all went wide-eyed and stood up when he cleared his throat.

"Is she here?" Tina asked excitedly.

Puck nodded. "7 pounds, 10 ounces, 20 inches long."

Tina clamped a hand over her mouth, grinning broadly, while Nick and Puck fist-bumped and then Puck hugged his father-in-law.

"And her name?" Fred prodded.

"Megan. Megan Marie Puckerman," Puck said proudly.

Tina wiped away a tear and asked, "When can we meet her?"

Puck dropped into the nearest chair and looked at the three eager sets of eyes on him. "They're sewing Rachel up at the moment and then they're going to get them both cleaned up. So in about a half-hour or so, we'll be able to go back."

"Wonderful. Is Rachel okay?" Fred asked.

"Rachel's great, Fred. Well, she's absolutely fucking exhausted but other than that, she's great. She's awesome. She was incredible in there. She did threaten to de-ball me and announced that we were never having another baby but other than that, she was incredible."

Fred laughed and sat down at Puck's side. "And how did you do?"

"Kept my cool and didn't freak out or throw up or pass out...so okay, I guess."

Sighing, Fred leaned his head against the wall. Puck looked at him out of the corner of his eye and held out his hand to shake it. "Congratulations, Grandpa."

Fred shook his hand vigorously and grinned. "Congratulations, Dad."

* * *

**Next up:** The epilogue (which will be posted tomorrow!)


	13. Epilogue

_**EPILOGUE**_

* * *

Puck stood on the sidewalk in a throng of other parents, his eight-month old daughter squirming in his arms. She was fussy because it was so warm outside so Puck bounced her gently, singing softly in her ear to soothe her as they waited. She stopped fussing and her big brown eyes stared up at him, forcing a huge grin onto his face. Just then, the doors of the pre-school burst open and children began pouring out.

He watched as the dark hair of his four-year-old daughter came into view. Her eyes swept over the adults, searching, and then settled on her father. "Daddy!" Megan shouted, launching herself at him. He bent down and hugged her with the free arm that wasn't holding his smaller daughter. She kissed his cheek, patted her baby sister, Lindsay, on the head, and then grabbed her father's hand.

"Where's Mommy?" Megan asked as they headed toward Puck's truck. Mommy usually picked her up from school, not Daddy.

Puck unlocked the truck and opened the door, helping Megan up into the tall vehicle. She crawled over the baby seat and climbed up into her booster seat and quickly belted herself in. Meanwhile, Puck buckled Lindsay into her car seat. "Mommy had a meeting today. We're going to meet her for lunch." Looking up from the baby, he asked, "You all buckled in?"

Megan nodded proudly and Puck reached across the space so that she could give him a high five. Then he closed the door and jogged around to the driver's side. Megan grinned and bent over the open space between herself and her sister, sticking her tongue out so that Lindsay would giggle as Puck pulled out into traffic.

"So you're not going to go back to work today?" Megan asked.

"Nope, Megs. We're meeting Mommy and then we'll all go home together. Maybe I'll get out the pool and let you splash around this afternoon." Puck ticked his eyes up and looked in the rear view mirror at his daughter. "Does that sound okay?"

"That sounds good, Daddy! It's _so_ hot outside that I could just die!" Puck chuckled at the dramatic words of his oldest daughter. _She's so much like her mom. _Megan was always keyed up and could launch into long speeches about the littlest of things. Sometimes, she was so nearly identical to Rachel that it scared him. She may have looked mostly like him but she was _all _Rachel. Lindsay, on the other hand, was the spitting image of her mother but already seemed to be more relaxed and low-key at eight-months-old than Megan had been at the same age.

Puck parked outside the restaurant and began the task of unbuckling seat belts and getting his girls out of the truck. With the diaper bag thrown over his shoulder and Lindsay now asleep against his chest, he grabbed Megan's hand as they crossed the street and entered the restaurant. Spotting Rachel as soon as they were inside, Puck nodded at the hostess and made his way toward his wife. Rachel stood up, taking Lindsay from his arms, and then she bent to kiss Megan before standing up to kiss her husband.

"Hey, babe," Puck said, brushing his lips across hers. "How'd it go?"

The Puckerman family sat down at the table and Rachel smiled. "Well, Noah… I told you that Mr. Sanford has been a large benefactor with the Seattle Musical Theatre for ages, right?"

Puck nodded.

"Well," she continued, "the reason he wanted to meet with me is…" Rachel bit her lip, looking up at her husband through her lashes, "…he's producing the revival of "Oklahoma" on Broadway. And he wants me to play Laurey."

Puck's mouth dropped open. When Rachel told him that she had a meeting with a theater producer and that he needed to pick up the girls that Wednesday, he hadn't expected _this _to be the result.

"What did you tell him?" Puck asked quickly.

"I told him that I needed to talk to you and that I'd call him this evening." The look of hope and excitement on her face told Puck all he needed to know.

"Babe, I told you years ago that if you wanted Broadway, you could have Broadway." He looked between the three females that ruled his life and owned his heart. "So it looks like we're moving to New York City?"

"But Noah, what about Tina and Nick and Jackson? I hate to leave them."

Megan's head popped up at the mention of Jackson, her three-year-old playmate and Nick and Tina's son. "Do I get to see Jackson today?"

Puck patted her knee. "I dunno, baby. We may invite them over this evening." Shifting his attention back to Rachel, Puck said, "They will come see us, Rach. They know that this is your dream. It has been your entire life. You're calling Mr. Sanford and you're telling him that you're taking it."

Rachel began to protest but Puck stopped her. "Not up for discussion, Rach. I'm getting kind of tired of Seattle, anyway. We've been here forever. So we're going."

Rachel let out a squeal of excitement, which caused Lindsay to wake up and start crying. Rachel jumped into "momma mode" and soothed her daughter until she was quiet again. Meeting her husband's eyes across the table, she said, "I can't believe we're doing this. From Seattle to New York City?"

"No, babe…From Seattle Musical Theatre to _Broadway_," Puck corrected.

Just then, the waitress approached the table with a pleasing smile on her face. After arguing with Megan that she needed to have carrots with her spaghetti and not French fries, Puck and Rachel ordered. Once the waitress was gone again, Puck looked back at Rachel, who sat starry-eyed.

"I love you, you know," she said, "for supporting me."

Puck snorted. "Babe, you've had me whipped for so long that I don't know any other way to be. Besides, you know I don't care where we live. As long as I've got my girls, I'm good. Well," he corrected with a grin, "my girls and beer and ESPN."

"And your guitar, Daddy," Megan interjected, sounding authoritative and informed, "don't forget your guitar. You don't have that, you can't sing to Lindsay and me!"

"You're right, Meggie," Puck agreed, his large hand patting the knee of his daughter, "I gotta have my guitar."

"So what do we do first?" Rachel asked. "I mean, Noah, there's _so _much to do! We have to call a realtor and get our house on the market and then call a realtor in New York City and have them start looking for a place for us to live. I have to resign. _You _have to resign. We have to withdraw Megan from pre-school, close our bank accounts, hire a mov—"

"—Rach," Puck interjected, laying his hand on hers. She lifted her head and met his eyes. "Slow down. We'll take care of all!" Leaning back, he crossed his arms. "How 'bout tonight, we invite Nick and Tina and Jackson over and we grill out. Afterwards, we'll all sit down and make a _huge_ checklist and we'll make sure _everything _is on it. And I'll even let you work on one of your stupid 'emergency, just in case disaster strikes' plans, as long as I don't have to hear about it."

Rachel shook her head and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It's going to be okay, isn't it?"

"Babe, we're moving so that your hot little ass can be on Broadway!"

"Mommy! Daddy said one of _those _words again!" Megan announced quickly.

Puck scowled at his tattletale daughter and looked back at his wife. "Rachel Puckerman…your name will be in lights. We'll figure it all out because _this_? Totally worth the pain in the ass it is to move."

"Mommy!" Megan insisted, clearly frustrated at her father's use of bad words, "Are you gonna yell at him or do I have to?"

Puck snorted and then looked at his daughter. "I apologize, baby. How 'bout I buy you ice cream to make up for it?"

Megan bit her small lip thoughtfully. "I think that's acceptable, as long as you refrain from bad words," she finally said.

"Good god, woman, she's more like you every day," Puck muttered, watching as Rachel laughed at her oldest daughter.

As the waitress brought their food to the table, Puck bent down to get a napkin tucked in to Megan's shirt to avoid a messy disaster. Then he leaned over and checked on Lindsay before sitting back down to eat his own food. Rachel watched him, her eyes appreciating the physical power he exerted while doing something so gentle and caring.

Silently, she reached across the table and grabbed his hand. He looked up from his plate and linked his fingers with hers. Her eyes were filled with tears and swimming with emotion.

"Noah, I'm _really _going to be on Broadway!"

**

* * *

Author's Note:** So that's it for the Puckermans of Seattle. Between "All Roads Lead to You" and this story, I think we've spent enough time with them! Time to send them off to the bright lights of NYC so Rachel can wow 'em.

Thanks for reading/commenting!


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